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Banking

PNC Launches Workplace Advantage Banking Program for Employers

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PNC Launches Workplace Advantage Banking Program for Employers

Pittsburgh – September 11, 2026 -- PNC Bank has launched PNC Workplace Advantage, a workplace banking program targeting employers with 100 or more employees that seeks to boost benefits offerings without adding administrative burden.

PNC ties premium banking tier to workplace direct deposit enrollment

Employees who open a qualifying PNC checking account and set up a qualifying direct deposit method through their employer will be invited to enroll in PNC TotalRewards Silver Tier, a benefit level typically reserved for customers holding at least $25,000 in deposits and investments. The program provides banking rewards, personalized guidance from dedicated financial wellness professionals, virtual or onsite banking access, and financial education through live seminars and on-demand digital resources.

China Merchants Bank Cuts AI Inference Costs 60% on Kubernetes

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China Merchants Bank Cuts AI Inference Costs 60% on Kubernetes

Shanghai – September 10, 2026 -- China Merchants Bank has won the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's (CNCF) End User Case Study Contest after lifting average accelerator utilization from 35% to more than 60% and cutting inference cost per 1 million tokens by over 60%.

Unified control plane pools nearly 10,000 accelerator cards

The bank's AI infrastructure team built a single Kubernetes control plane combining Kueue, KEDA, Prometheus, HAMi, and Fluid, allowing training, fine-tuning, and online inference workloads to share close to 10,000 heterogeneous accelerator cards. Working with its data center and other internal teams, the bank brought 99% of its accelerator compute under this framework.

WaFd, EverBank Agree to $3.9 Billion Reverse Merger, Renaming Bank EVBK

Jacksonville and Seattle – September 10, 2026 -- EverBank Financial Corp and WaFd, Inc. (NASDAQ: WAFD) have entered into a definitive merger agreement valuing the combination at $3.9 billion, creating a nationwide bank with more than 250 financial centers.

WaFd will absorb EverBank but adopt its name and new ticker EVBK

Under the deal structure, EverBank Financial Corp will merge into WaFd, Inc., with WaFd continuing as the surviving holding company. Despite being the legal survivor, WaFd will rename itself EverBank Financial Corp and begin trading on Nasdaq under the symbol EVBK once the transaction closes. EverBank has been designated the accounting acquirer, and its shareholders will receive WaFd common stock in exchange for their shares.

GLS Bank Executive Warns AfD Win in Saxony-Anhalt Threatens Business Climate

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GLS Bank Executive Warns AfD Win in Saxony-Anhalt Threatens Business Climate

Bochum – – September 09, 2026 -- GLS Bank board member Aysel Osmanoglu has issued a public statement following an unexpectedly strong result for the far-right AfD in Saxony-Anhalt's state election, warning that the outcome puts fundamental societal achievements and democracy itself at risk.

GLS Bank says an AfD-led state government would pressure its civil-society client base

Osmanoglu, who sits on the board of the Bochum-based socio-ecological GLS Gemeinschaftsbank, said the bank counts many organizations from civil society among its customers and that an AfD-led regional administration would place these clients under direct pressure.

Executive links open, diverse society to a resilient economic future

"The free and diverse society is the foundation for a good life and a future-proof economy," Osmanoglu said, arguing that democratic values and economic viability are directly connected rather than separate policy tracks.

German Banks' Bad Loans Jump 87% Even as Capital Hits Record High

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German Banks' Bad Loans Jump 87% Even as Capital Hits Record High

Frankfurt am Main – September 07, 2026 -- Germany is the only major European banking market where non-performing loans (NPLs) are rising again, with the stock of bad debt at German banks climbing 87% between 2019 and 2025, according to a new BearingPoint study covering 216 European banks over a 13-year period.

The increase runs counter to the broader European trend: most markets across the continent continued to reduce problem loans over the same period, even as the sector-wide average NPL ratio fell to 1.9%.

First Horizon EVP Named Woman of Impact by Heart Association

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First Horizon EVP Named Woman of Impact by Heart Association

SHERIDAN, WYOMING -- August 28, 2026 -- First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN) said Executive Vice President and Operations Executive Amy Perry has been named a 2026 Woman of Impact by the Mid-South Chapter of the American Heart Association and its Go Red for Women initiative. The Memphis-based bank confirmed the recognition on August 28, 2026, tying it to a fundraising campaign that pulled in a record $260,000 this year. Perry was one of 11 women selected for the sixth annual campaign, which channels donations toward heart disease and stroke prevention programs across the Memphis community.