Attention is expected to focus keenly on the full-year outlooks that banks present with their first quarter earnings reports. Comments made on net interest income, commercial real estate, bond portfolio losses and relatively muted performance of bank stocks in the broader market rally are likely to be of particular interest.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced the outcome of a series of meetings held with European Commission regulators, which defined digital payments, buy now, pay later services and artificial intelligence as the three priority issues on which they intend to collaborate. "These discussions have strengthened the ability of our agencies to execute our respective public mandates," said a joint statement from the CFPB and EC.

The Federal Reserve's FedNow instant payments network has doubled subscriber numbers since the end of 2023 with 600 predominantly smaller banks and credit unions now signed up. Marcell King, chief commercial officer at digital bank Tyfone, said banks that hold a Fed Master Account are choosing FedNow for its operational simplicity, and estimates that "the FedNow service could represent up to 1,500 financial institution participants by the end of 2024."

An article from McKinsey estimates the embedded finance industry is currently worth around $20 billion, and notes banks and fintechs are working constantly to deliver new, innovative products. While listing some of the innovations, the article dives deeply into the potential rewards and most pressing risks banks are likely to encounter when engaging with it.

Debt worth $16 billion has changed hands from private funds into markets for syndicated loans and bonds in 2024, according to Bank of America. Prices for leveraged loans have rallied, prompting companies to secure lower rates by switching to banks.

A total of six regional banks are close to attaining $100 billion in assets, reaching a threshold that will entail stricter requirements from the Federal Reserve, notes Jefferies analyst Casey Haire. Focusing on the events surrounding the demise of New York Community Bancorp., some of which could be seen as missteps, Haire says the regionals will have learned from them and contends they are "in much better shape for a variety of factors, and they have time before they get there. And, given what happened [with New York Community], they're going to take it a lot more seriously."

Hotter than expected inflation data in the US has made markets less clear on when the Federal Reserve and other central banks will begin to cut rates. As it stands, trading suggests Switzerland is expected to cut rates first in June, to be followed by Sweden, the European Central Bank and Canada. The US and UK are now not expected to cut rates until the second half of the year.

Cryptocurrency solutions provider Ripple is expected to file its opposition to a request from the Securities and Exchange Commission that asked a New York district court to direct Ripple to pay a fine of $1.9 billion levied over sales of its XRP tokens which the SEC deemed unregistered securities. The court said the SEC would have until May 6 to respond to Ripple's brief, which is expected by April 22.

A new report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging details how victims of fraud may face hefty tax bills related to the lost funds. For example, the report cites the case of a retiree in his 70s who owed more than $220,000 in taxes after a scammer tricked him into withdrawing retirement funds to buy cryptocurrency.