Financial advisers have known for some time that Americans have lost confidence in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement, but for confidence to plunge just as economic indicators were perking up?

Brokers and financial advisers looking to make more money and have more control over the type of clients they serve and the investments they recommend continued to flood the independent channel at a swift pace in 2010, according to a broker and adviser sentiment index survey conducted on behalf of Fidelity Investments.

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.'s former chairman, Lee Farkas, ordered data sent to Colonial Bank for nonexistent loans in an effort to cover up growing deficits, an ex-president said.

University Bancorp gained a number of offices from Huron Valley Financial. It also hired lenders and staff with experience in reverse mortgages and wholesale lending.

The bureau had already proposed removing the underwriting portion of the rule, but a judge in Texas has indefinitely delayed the other key component as well.

Readers debate the odds of legislative reform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, consider the growing problem of "friendly fraud," weigh ways to avoid reputation problems and more.

In her new book, “Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source,” Columbia Law professor Kathryn Judge examines how middlemen offer — and often limit — consumer choice.

The text of the Overdraft Protection Act hasn’t changed in 10 years, but the banking industry has shifted dramatically.

Banks are making a mistake in their opposition to the SEC’s proposal to mandate disclosure of carbon emissions and other climate data.