Category

Banking

3 insights

A curve showing noninterest expense as a share of net operating revenue at insured institutions, holding expense growth at 10 percent, falling from about 62 percent at flat revenue to about 52 percent at 18 percent revenue growth, and crossing today's share only when revenue also grows 10 percent.

The Fastest Growing Cost in Banking Is the One That Has No Owner

All other noninterest expense at insured institutions rose 14.7 percent over the year while salaries rose 6.6 percent. The line growing fastest is the one no executive owns, which makes it structural rather than a budgeting problem.
BankingData & Reporting
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A stepped line falling from 4,839 insured institutions at the end of 2021 to 4,238 by the second quarter of 2026, a decline of 601 institutions.

Six Hundred Institutions Have Disappeared Since 2021. Every One Was an Integration Project.

The number of insured institutions fell from 4,839 at the end of 2021 to 4,238 by mid-2026, and 36 were absorbed by merger in a single quarter. Consolidation is a banking trend that arrives as a systems workload.
BankingSystems Integration
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A waffle grid of 100 squares with 10 marked, showing that noninterest expense at insured institutions rose 10 percent year over year while full-time equivalent headcount fell 1.3 percent.

Banks Cut Headcount and Noninterest Expense Rose 10 Percent. The Cost Base Is Not People.

Insured institutions shed 27,662 full-time equivalents over a year while noninterest expense grew 10 percent. When cost rises as headcount falls, the expense is attached to the work rather than to the workforce.
BankingAutomation & Workflow
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