U.S. Market Close 02/25/2026

DOW 30  +0.63% +307.65 49,482.15

S&P 500  +0.81% +56.06 6,946.13

NASDAQ 100  +1.41% +351.99 25,329.04

CLOSED TRANSACTIONS

• 1. Specialty Finance Company. $50 million Senior Credit Facility
• 2. Small Business Finance Company $25 million Senior Credit Facility
• 3. Consumer Installment Lender. $240 million Forward Flow Agreement
• 4. Cambridge Wilkinson Investment Bank Closes Sale of $80MM+ Consumer Loan Portfolio

US weighs bank citizenship data requirements, reports say

The Trump administration is discussing an executive order designed to force banks to collect citizenship data alongside other identification information from customers, according to multiple media reports.

The potential move would represent a significant new push in President Donald Trump’s effort to discourage undocumented migration to the US, and could impose substantial and unprecedented new mandates on financial institutions. 

The order, reported by the Wall Street Journal and Semafor, could apply to not only new customers but existing account holders. While there are not currently rules against noncitizens opening bank accounts in the US, a requirement to produce a passport or similar documentation could provide a new barrier for those in the country illegally.

Although citizenship documents aren’t currently necessary to open a bank account in the US, and the EU commonly accepts a national ID card in place of a passport, the requirement is more common in other nations. 

Read more at BLOOMBERG

NCUA extends 18% interest rate ceiling for most loans: By Ballard CFS Group

The NCUA board has approved a plan to continue the agency’s temporary 18% rate ceiling for most loans made by federal credit unions.

Section 107(5)(A)(vi)(I) of the Federal Credit Union Act, 12 U.S.C. 1757(5)(A)(vi)(I), limits federal credit unions to a 15% interest rate ceiling on loans but authorizes the NCUA board to increase rates for up to 18 months after certain required consultations and if certain conditions are met.

One condition of raising the rate ceiling is that money market interest rates must have increased during the preceding six months. NCUA staff concluded that was the case, because there were several occasions during that period when money market rates had risen, and also concluded that certain safety and soundness conditions had been met. 

Had the agency not extended the interest rate ceiling, the current 18% ceiling would have expired on March 10, 2026, and the interest rate would have reverted to 15%. The board’s action extends the temporary 18% ceiling through September 10, 2027.

Read more at Ballard Spahr L.L.P.

AI is already reshaping JPMorgan Chase’s workforce as bank plans ‘huge redeployment’

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon described his bank’s internal plans to shift employees into new roles as automation accelerates.
• “We already have huge redeployment plans for [our] own people,” Dimon said. “We have displaced people from AI — and we offer them other jobs.”
• The bank’s workforce provides a snapshot of what happens when corporations employ AI technology, including models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
• The bank’s head count was roughly unchanged at 318,512 over the past year, but there were changes below the surface.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank is taking steps to address the impact of artificial intelligence on its workers, and part of what he said should be a broader societal response to the potentially disruptive nature of AI.

Read more at CNBC

Register now: Applications open for the World’s Top Fintech Companies 2026

Key Points

• CNBC and Statista chart the top fintech players from around the world, ranging from startups to Big Tech names.
• The World’s Top Fintech Companies has been expanded this year, with regulation tech — companies helping others meet their financial regulatory obligations — becoming its own segment.
• Applications are now open for companies to submit their information for consideration.

Applications are now open for the fourth edition of CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies list, produced in partnership with market research firm Statista.

Each year, CNBC and Statista chart the top fintech players from around the world, ranging from startups to Big Tech names, across segments including payments, wealth technology, insurance and more. 

Read more at CNBC

Consumer Finance Firms Fall on AI-Driven Macro Fears

We view market concerns as overstated, as signs of significant AI disruption are elusive so far.

Shares of consumer finance names such as Capital One, American Express, and Affirm traded 7%-8% lower intraday on Feb. 23, likely on concerns that disruption from artificial intelligence could lead to future layoffs and structurally higher unemployment, increasing credit costs and lowering payment volume.

Why it matters: We view market concerns as overstated, as signs of significant AI disruption are elusive so far.

While the labor market has shown signs of weakness, this has mostly been due to low hiring rates, which does not create meaningful headwinds to credit quality. Case in point, credit costs fell significantly industrywide in 2025, though we do not expect further improvement in 2026.

Read more at MORNINGSTAR

Are Baby Boomers wealthier than previous generations of older adults? PEW

As the oldest Baby Boomers turn 80 this year, many people are taking stock of how this generation has impacted American life.

One fact is clear: They’ve accumulated more wealth ($85 trillion by some accounts) than previous generations of older Americans.

In 2022, the typical (median) household headed by a Baby Boomer had a net worth of $432,200. That year, Baby Boomers were 58 to 76 years old. By comparison, the median wealth of 58- to 76-year-olds in 2001 (who were mostly members of the Silent Generation) was $335,900. In 1983, the typical wealth of households headed by someone in this age range (mostly members of the Greatest Generation) was $185,300. All numbers are in 2024 dollars.

Read more at Pew Research Center

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Our #IRS Interactive Tax Assistant has answers.

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US appeals judges press Trump administration on consumer watchdog shutdown

Judges in Washington's federal appeals court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of Trump administration claims that federal courts do not have the power to block the government from firing the vast majority of workers at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The consumer watchdog has been largely on ice since February of last year while the administration battles in court for permission to decimate if not eliminate its workforce, which officials attempted to do on two occasions.

Top administration officials have called for the CFPB's elimination, calling it a politicized burden on free enterprise, but in court the administration has claimed it does not intend to do this.

In a hearing before the full bench of 11 judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric McArthur faced insistent questions, testing his position that a lower court exceeded its jurisdiction last year by blocking the mass firings and finding that the government did plan to shut the agency down.

Read more at MARKETS TODAY

US Fed moves to drop reputation risk in bank reviews 

Instead, supervisory focus would shift to risks posing a direct threat to a bank’s stability and soundness.

The US Federal Reserve has introduced a draft rule that would change how bank examiners evaluate risk, proposing an end to the use of reputation risk in supervisory decisions.

The proposal, now open for public comment, would prevent examiners from discouraging banks from serving customers involved in lawful activities.

Instead, supervisory focus would shift to risks posing a direct threat to a bank’s stability and soundness.

This initiative follows actions taken by President Donald Trump to address what he identified as unfair treatment by major banks.

Read more at RetailBanker International

Beyond banking: How CX Is fintech’s real growth engine

Nick Merritt discusses the contrasting challenges facing fintechs in the US and Europe and why optimising the customer experience is key to winning market share from the incumbents

The UK is still the market leader in fintech innovation. But with investment in the sector hitting a four year low, those looking to grow are looking across the pond. For many, the US is a land of fintech opportunity.

American banking continues to lag behind Europe in several key areas: open banking adoption, fast payment systems, and truly mobile-native experiences. For nimble fintech businesses that have prioritised delivering a top-tier customer experience (CX), US soil is fertile ground for growth.

But it’s not as simple as just relocating and replicating what worked in London.

Read more at RetailBanker International

Why Stocks Keep Rising Despite AI Anxiety

Our CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson explains why he still believes in a growth cycle for equity markets, even as investors show growing concerns around AI. 

Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s CIO and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist.

Today on the podcast, I'll be discussing recent concerns around AI disruption.

It's Tuesday, February 24th at 1pm in New York.

So, let's get after it.

Last week you could feel it, that anxious undercurrent in the market. The headlines were noisy, volatility ticked higher, and AI disruption, once again, dominated investor conversations. But beneath the surface level unease something important happened. The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index pushed to a new relative high, keeping our broadening thesis alive and well.

Read more at MORGAN STANLEY

What we know about internet use, smartphone ownership and digital divides in the U.S.: PEW

Today, most Americans subscribe to home broadband internet and own a smartphone. About four-in-ten describe their internet use as almost constant.

But use of these technologies is not universal. For instance, Americans with the lowest household incomes are far less likely than their higher-income peers to subscribe to broadband internet at home.

Below, we’ll walk through findings on technology use and digital divides from our 2025 survey:

How often do Americans go online?

Screen time for kids and teens often makes headlines. At the same time, many adults spend lots of time in front of screens, too.

Read more at Pew Research Center

How 2026 Tax Refund Increases Could Boost Consumer Finance

Will Consumers Go Shopping With Bigger Tax Refunds?

Larger 2026 tax refunds are poised to lift household finances, though consumer spending increases may be gradual.

Key Takeaways

• Tax refunds are likely to be around 20% larger this year and could help improve household finances.
• Middle‑ and high‑income consumers stand to benefit most from expanded deductions and credits from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• Elevated refunds may temporarily raise disposable income and help reduce debt.
• Durable goods, hardline retail, restaurants and travel industries could see higher demand as consumers channel part of their larger tax refunds into purchases.

Tax season is officially underway in the U.S., with returns now being accepted and refunds expected to accelerate by mid‑February. This year, many Americans are likely to receive notably larger refunds—potentially around 20% more than in 2025—offering a meaningful boost to household finances, select industries and, to a certain degree, the broader economy.

Read more at MORGAN STANLEY

Troutman Pepper Locke Weekly Consumer Financial Services Newsletter – February 24, 2026

Monitoring the financial services industry to help companies navigate through regulatory compliance, enforcement, and litigation issues

Federal Activities:

On February 18, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the conclusion of a major public‑private initiative, launched under President Donald Trump’s AI Action Plan, to strengthen cybersecurity and risk management for artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial services sector, including the staged release throughout February of six resources developed with industry and federal and state regulators to support secure and resilient AI adoption across the U.S. financial system. Through the Artificial Intelligence Executive Oversight Group (AIEOG) — a partnership of the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council — senior leaders from financial institutions and regulators collaborated to identify gaps in AI use and produce practical tools addressing AI-specific cybersecurity risks, governance, data practices, transparency, fraud, and digital identity, with a particular focus on helping small and mid-sized institutions. Treasury emphasized that the resources are designed to enable confident, secure AI deployment without imposing prescriptive requirements, thereby enhancing resilience and cyber defenses while fostering innovation, and advancing the administration’s goals of securing AI data, infrastructure, and models, promoting best practices, and supporting global adoption of U.S. AI systems. 

Read more at Troutman Pepper Locke

3 Practices That Empower Community Banks and Credit Unions to Press Local Advantages

Community banks and credit unions have long understood that their greatest competitive advantage lies in their deep local roots. Yet translating that hyperlocal strength into effective digital marketing has remained frustratingly hard to achieve for most of them. While the country’s largest banks deploy vast data science teams and sophisticated targeting capabilities, small- and mid-sized institutions struggle with the resources and technical infrastructure to execute localized campaigns at scale, leaving them unable to compete effectively in the very neighborhoods where they should have home-field advantage.

Many of these institutions begin their localization journey with ad campaigns delivered via Meta, but find the process expensive and challenging to scale: gaps in Meta’s standard toolset — including limits on performance quantification and a 15-mile radius restriction that can lead to overlapping coverage — makes precise audience selection difficult. Other institutions may focus their hyperlocal efforts on specific owned channels, such as email, because their knowledge of these customers makes it easier to segment and be relevant.

Read more at The Financial Brand

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Merchant Service Provider for Your Business EC

9 Lessons Banking Has (or Should Have) Learned from Fintechs

Fintechs once thought they'd eat banks' lunch (and breakfast and dinner). As this industry grew, fintechs and banks came to realize that the picture was more complex and that sometimes collaboration was the best path. That said, even banks and credit unions that don't want to work with fintechs have key lessons to learn from the last 15 years or so.

On Oct. 4, 2010, I walked into the Metropolitan Pavilion, an event space in New York City, for what came to be my introduction to fintech. It was an early edition of a leading fintech conference and at the time I was working for a bank. The conference featured 56 companies ranging from upstarts like Betterment, CreditSesame and BackBase to established brands like H&R Block, Jack Henry and FIS.

For me, a working banker, the remarkable thing about attending the conference was the feeling that the banking industry was about to be hit with an innovation tsunami. Would we be able to stand up after the blast?

Read more at The Financial Brand

Nearly 100 Groups Are Standing Up for a Strong, Robust, and Independent CFPB

Washington D.C. – Today a coalition of 81 national and state civil rights, community, consumer protection, and other advocacy organizations, called on Congress to affirm the dedicated funding and the single independent director structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Over the past year, there have been countless attacks on the CFPB, the only agency with the sole mission to protect people from financial abuse like illegal overdraft fees, sky-high credit card late fees, and scams that target older people and members of the military. But instead of letting the CFPB do its job, there have been waves of illegal firings, rolled back enforcement actions, and drastic funding cuts. 

The letter to the Senate can be found here. 

Read more at Americans for Financial Reform

AI Gives Credit Unions the Edge Banks Can’t Buy

The future of personalization is coming at the credit union movement fast. Powered by artificial intelligence and new regulatory capacity around data sharing, credit unions have entered an era where predictive personalization is the competitive baseline. Members expect their financial institution to know who they are and what they need next.

The forces driving this shift aren’t entirely new, but their convergence has accelerated, driving the industry from backward-looking analytics toward forward-looking member engagement that anticipates member needs.

“Digital excellence is nonnegotiable,” said Finalytics Chief Strategy Officer Baron Conway. “A frictionless and engaging digital experience is today the critical factor in whether an institution will win or lose its members.”

Read more at The Financial Brand

Trump pitches new retirement plan with a federal match of up to $1,000 per year — who could benefit

Key Points

• Approximately 56 million Americans do not have access to a retirement savings plan at work, according to 2025 research from the Pew Charitable Trusts. 
• President Donald Trump said during the State of the Union on Tuesday that his administration plans to launch a new savings plan for those workers that will include a $1,000 annual match.
• Here’s what to know about the proposal.

Millions of workers without access to a 401(k) or other workplace retirement plan could get a new way to invest — and an annual government match of up to $1,000 — under a proposal from President Donald Trump.

“Half of all of working Americans still do not have access to a retirement plan with matching contributions from an employer,” Trump said during his State of the Union address Tuesday. “To remedy this gross disparity, I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these often-forgotten American workers … access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker. We will match your contribution with up to $1,000 each year as we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market.”

Read more at CNBC

We advise financial technology companies at the

start-up, product development, and product evolution stages. PS

Does artificial intelligence make banks safer?

When the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Professors Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, the Nobel committee recognised them “for advancing our understanding of innovation-driven economic growth.” Their collective work underscores that innovation is the engine of long-run prosperity – but that its benefits depend critically on institutional quality, governance and the ability to adapt to technological change.

This message resonates strongly with ongoing transformations in the banking industry. Financial institutions worldwide are deploying artificial intelligence (AI) to improve credit assessment, detect fraud, automate compliance and manage risk. Yet despite the enthusiasm surrounding AI, its implications for bank risk-taking and financial stability remain poorly understood. Does AI make banks safer, or does it amplify new forms of risk?

Read more at London School of Economics and Political Science

Student loan forgiveness is taxable again. How to plan for a five-figure IRS bill

Key Points

• Student loan borrowers who get their debt forgiven in 2026 can expect a hefty tax bill next year.
• But there are steps you can take now to prepare for the tab, financial advisors say.
• Meanwhile, those who can’t afford the bill may have options, too.

Many student loan borrowers who get their debt forgiven in 2026 can expect a hefty tax bill next year. That’s because a law that shielded the relief from taxation at the federal level — part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — expired in December.

Most impacted borrowers will be those who have their debt excused under the U.S. Department of Education’s income-driven repayment plans, or IDRs. Enacted in the 90s, IDR plans cap people’s monthly payments at a share of their discretionary income — and erase any remaining debt after a certain period, typically 20 or 25 years.

Read more at CNBC

Trump Administration says CFPB has cost consumers hundreds of billions of dollars: By Richard J. Andreano, Jr. & John L. Culhane, Jr. 

Since its inception in 2011, the CFPB has cost consumers between $237 billion and $369 billion, the Trump Administration’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) said, in a report.

“Through a combination of regulation, supervision, and the threat of enforcement actions, the CFPB has raised costs for both borrowers and lenders,” the CEA said, adding that the largest component– increased borrowing costs–accounts for $222 billion to $350 billion of this total.

“The regulatory burden imposed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has increased the compliance and liability costs associated with consumer financial products, which financial institutions pass on to consumers in the form of higher prices and reduced product offerings,” the CEA said.

Read more at Ballard Spahr L.L.P. 

Why Experts Say More People Are Shopping Dollar Stores, Even When They’re Not Broke

Many people shop at dollar stores out of necessity. More affordable products allow their dollar to stretch further to buy the basics to live. But, increasingly, people who can afford to shop at more expensive stores are turning to dollar stores instead.

According to Statista, there are over 39,000 stores in the U.S. classified as dollar stores. These stores offer a mix of food and consumer goods with many focused on offering a range of seasonal products. While these aren’t the go-to stores for meat or fresh produce, they typically stock a variety of prepackaged foods, including canned goods and baking items, along with dairy products.

As an increasing number of people move towards dollar stores for their needs, it begs the question, why are more people shopping at dollar stores even when their income would support shopping at more expensive stores?

Read more at AOL

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Tax season presents a boom-or-bust test for U.S. auto sales

Key Points

• Many Americans could receive higher tax returns this season thanks to changes in tax law under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• Auto industry experts anticipate that some buyers, who have been priced out of the new-vehicle market, could use the extra cash to purchase a car or truck.
• March is historically one of the top months for U.S. vehicle sales, but a complicated macroeconomic environment could mean Americans save or spend that money to pay down debt.

DETROIT — The strength of the U.S. automotive industry will face an early test this spring that has nothing to do with cars or trucks.

With tax season starting, industry experts are projecting that some Americans, many of whom have been priced out of the new-vehicle market, will use anticipated higher tax returns to purchase a new or used vehicle.

Read more at CNBC

BNPL Services Expand Steadily but Pose Moderate Systemic Risks : Research

In February 2026, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released a detailed examination of the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) sector, focusing on its rapid evolution and broader economic effects. Authored by economist Zhu Wang, the research report highlights how these short-term financing options have matured into a notable yet contained segment of consumer credit.

BNPL (or pay later) services, specifically the popular “pay-in-four” model, allow shoppers to split purchases into four equal, interest-free installments over six weeks, with the first payment due at checkout.

Unlike traditional installment loans that involve credit checks, interest charges, and bureau reporting, these products rely on soft underwriting and do not appear on credit reports.

This structure has fueled accessibility but also created measurement challenges for regulators.

Read more at CROWDFUNDINSIDER