A California federal judge has ordered debt relief company Morgan Drexen Inc. to pay the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more than $173 million to resolve an August 2013 lawsuit claiming the company collected illegal upfront fees for debt settlement service and ran deceptive advertisements.

The Independent Community Bankers of America and the Credit Union National Association sent a joint letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board urging changes to a proposal to alter how financial institutions establish reserves for loan losses.

Executives at banks that have not taken advantage of low stock prices to buy up their own shares could get hammered during quarterly earnings calls in April.

Creating a bipartisan commission to manage the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will make the agency's rules longer-lasting and place needed checks on the director's authority.

Banks change top executives all the time, but it's rare that one leaves for another venture and simultaneously gets recruited to the board of the bank he or she is leaving.

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Old Point Financial in Hampton, Va., has agreed to nominate an activist investor's candidate for its board.

Independent Bank Corp. in Rockland, Mass., has agreed to buy New England Bancorp in Hyannis, Mass., the parent of Bank of Cape Cod, for $30.7 million.

C&F Financial in West Point, Va., has named Jason Long chief financial officer of the company and its Citizens and Farmers Bank subsidiary.

A small Connecticut bank takes the plunge into mobile-friendly mortgages in a bid to turn an attractive pool of student-loan borrowers into lifetime customers.

The service should help Uber better compete with Lyft, a rival app-based taxi service that can now pay its drivers instantly. It could also be provide a new revenue source for Green Dot's struggling GoBank unit.

Atlantic Bancshares in Bluffton, S.C., has raised about $4 million to redeem shares issued through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

As one of the most antagonistic lobbying battles in Washington escalates -- where financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Visa are sparring with companies such as Walmart over credit card swipe fees -- a powerful ally is again sticking up for the retailers.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., plans to close 26 branches in Oregon, California, Idaho and Washington state in an effort to cut costs.

Moody’s Investors Service, which put three of Citigroup’s securitizations of unsecured consumer loans originated by Prosper Marketplace under review for a downgrade, was not invited to rate the latest offering.

An Illinois appeals panel found that collection agency HBLC may have broken federal collection laws by suing a man over a contested debt after the statute of limitations had expired.

Payday loan customers in Alabama would pay less under a bill that won approval Wednesday from the Alabama House Financial Services Committee.

Consolidation is increasing risk to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. while reducing diversification in the industry.

If the Federal Reserve raises short-term rates in June, market volatility will spur investors to buy long-term bonds, driving down the 30-year mortgage rate to around 3%, consultant Barry Habib argues.

Wings Financial Credit Union has scored a deal to take over a branch from U.S. Bank at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.