Like any good drama, this week provided a recap of several long-running narratives in banking before the industry launches into 2021's latter half.

Any viewer of soap operas might tell you that you don’t need to watch every episode to get the narratives. Junior analysts feel overworked. Banks are engaged in philosophical warfare over when, how often and indeed where employees may return to the office. (Sidebar: New York and London may be losing their cachet as the epicenter of everything.) 

As the year’s first half — or act, if we’re being theatrical — gives way to its second, it seems this week is giving us (the viewers) a post-intermission recap of 2021’s bullet points in preparation for the show’s inevitable acceleration toward the final curtain.

Have phone, will bank. At least that’s the theory given the right set of financial products and services.

In the digital age, it is the mobile device that gives access to an ever-evolving stream of banking services by making it easy for individuals to tap into financial tools to help them improve their financial well-being.

And it is also the mobile device that gives companies — many of them marquee names in banking and Big Tech — the point of access to millions of consumers and households who, thus far, have yet to fully embrace banking beyond its most basic functions, such as a checking account.

Clearly there’s a disconnect here, since most of us have devices, yet a significant number of us are underserved by the traditional financial system, and thus would be defined as underbanked.

Lenders of small business loans and credit products have several options for how and where they report information about the borrower and the status of the commercial credit product. While reporting, also known as furnishing, is generally provided to business credit reporting companies – including Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, and the Small Business Financial Exchange – many small business owners may also find information on their commercial credit products on their consumer credit reports, especially when their accounts are delinquent.

New research released today examines the relationship and trends in commercial and consumer credit for small businesses, with an in-depth look at the frequency and types of commercial credit commonly found on consumer credit reports and the often-inconsistent reporting practices and strategies, which can have significant implications for borrowers.

43% of the city’s population lives below Interstate 30 -- about 560,000 people -- but only get 26% of the bank loans. The majority are Black and Hispanic.

DALLAS — A bank is supposed to do two things: collect deposits and make loans. And many do – if you live in the right part of town. 

Banking Below 30, WFAA’s ongoing investigation of banking practices, has found that south of Interstate 30, where most of the residents are Black or Hispanic, many bank branches take deposits, but those same banks don’t lend much back out to customers in the surrounding neighborhoods. 

“It’s devastating and it sets you back financially for years,” said Traswell Livingston III. “You can’t catch that up.” 

The first time Livingston tried to buy a home in South Dallas three banks turned him down. 

“Very frustrating, very disheartening,” he said, “It makes you build up a thick skin.” 

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last spring—as healthcare providers worked tirelessly to treat piling COVID-19 cases, nursing home employees moved in with their residents, and liquor distilleries shifted production from spirits to hand sanitizer—another group of employees found themselves buried in piles of unexpected mission-critical work: the nameless bureaucrats of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

IRS employees may be best known for siphoning hard-earned dollars from Americans’ paychecks, but during the 2019 tax return season they took on a new, opposite role: dropping money directly into people’s bank accounts. More than 160 million Americans received $270 billion worth of first-round Economic Impact Payments—or stimulus checks—last year. As they learned how to work remotely, like so many other offices throughout the country, IRS agents were also juggling the massive new pandemic responsibilities with the agency’s annual duties, such as answering millions of phone calls from confused taxpayers, collecting trillions of dollars in gross taxes, processing hundreds of millions of federal tax returns and supplemental documents, and issuing billions of dollars in tax refunds.

Lenders of small business loans and credit products have several options for how and where they report information about the borrower and the status of the commercial credit product. While reporting, also known as furnishing, is generally provided to business credit reporting companies – including Dun & Bradstreet, Experian, Equifax, and the Small Business Financial Exchange – many small business owners may also find information on their commercial credit products on their consumer credit reports, especially when their accounts are delinquent.

New research released today examines the relationship and trends in commercial and consumer credit for small businesses, with an in-depth look at the frequency and types of commercial credit commonly found on consumer credit reports and the often-inconsistent reporting practices and strategies, which can have significant implications for borrowers.

Reporting commercial credit product on consumer credit reports

Most employers focus on physical and mental health. But what about employees’ financial health? The 2021 PwC Employee Financial Wellness Survey found that 63% of employees say that their financial stress has increased since the start of the pandemic. With years of stagnant wages for many workers and most Americans living paycheck to paycheck, this is an area of employee wellness that can’t be ignored.

After a year of uncertainty, employees have witnessed firsthand the importance of having a financial cushion for unexpected events. Yet, they remain woefully underprepared. The survey also found:

Less than half (47%) say they would be able to meet basic expenses if they were out of work for an extended period.

Nearly half (49%) believe they’ll need to use money in their retirement plans prior to retirement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers on Thursday that debt relief for poor and developing countries would be hampered without new funding, while $2.7 billion in current unmet U.S. commitments to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other institutions would grow.

Yellen, in prepared remarks to a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee, said that the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative for poor countries and a new debt restructuring "Common Framework" both need funding from Congress.

"Without new funding, the United States could be forced to delay the multilateral debt process under the Common Framework and charge much higher interest rates on DSSI debt service suspensions," Yellen said.

Yellen said the Treasury's budget request for fiscal 2022 includes funding for these initiatives as well as U.S. contribution commitments to international financial institutions, such as the World Bank's International Development Association fund for the poorest countries.