The Texas company has set up commercial banking offices in Charleston and Greenville, and it has established a private banking office in Atlanta. Its long-term goal is to build a branch network in some key Southeastern markets.

Since the start of the month, the San Francisco-based bank has announced the addition of three wealth management teams — one each from Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

The acquisition will add $8 billion of assets under management to the Illinois bank's wealth subsidiary. It marks another example of U.S. banks bolstering their wealth management businesses in a bid to collect more fee income.

The plan that the Federal Housing Finance Agency floated calls for Freddie Mac to actively invest in some new closed-end seconds as cash-out refinancing subsides.

Home loan originations were tepid in the first quarter, but higher margins helped large depositories bolster income even when the drop was particularly steep.

Mortgage rates rose this week as investors priced stronger than expected inflation and jobs affecting Fed moves into the 10-year Treasury.

Federal grants funding nonprofits that help people build strong credit are being slashed. The result will be more foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies and out-of-business signs at small businesses across the country.

Now more than ever, businesses globally have become increasingly susceptible to financial fraud.

Efforts to shoehorn the Credit Card Competition Act into pieces of popular legislation need to be defeated. The proposed law would harm the small businesses and consumers it purports to help.