The federal banking agencies today released 2016 Community Reinvestment Act Data on small business, small farm and community development lending. The CRA requires banks with more than $1.2 billion in assets to report data in these areas. (ABA Banking Journal)

American Bankers Mutual Insurance Ltd. — the reinsurer for ABA’s endorsed insurance program — will distribute $1.6 million to be shared by qualified member banks insured through ABA Insurance Services Inc., the association announced today. (ABA Banking Journal)

The banking IT sector is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States – expected to grow by nearly 17 percent by 2021, according to technology industry researchers. (SBJ)

On the latest episode of the Newsbytes Podcast, guests Brittany Kleinpaste and Monica C. Meinert discuss the ongoing macro-trend of bank consolidation — why it’s happening, how it’s accelerated over the past decade and what strategies banks are employing to determine their own destiny. (ABA Banking Journal)

Positive holiday seasonality worked like a charm on Tuesday, but will it continue to work today? According to QuantifiableEdges.com, when the S&P 500 is over its 200-day moving average, as it is now, the day before Thanksgiving has produced positive returns 30 of 33 times. The only losing years were in 1995, 1996 and 2015. (Real Money)

As regulatory reform bills advance, Congress should replace asset thresholds with supervisory requirements tailored to the activities of banks, FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig wrote in an American Banker op-ed today. (ABA Banking Journal)

On Halloween, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio huddled with fellow Democrats in his Senate offices to make an announcement: Months of talks between Mr. Brown and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo to roll back post-financial crisis rules had ended in failure. (The Wall Street Journal)

U.S. bank profits rose 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2017 from the same period in 2016, reaching $47.9 billion, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) said on Tuesday. The average return on assets was 1.12 percent and more than two-thirds of all banks reported higher quarterly earnings than a year earlier, the U.S. banking regulator said. (Reuters)