Contrary to the results of a recent internal investigation, the Justice Department's Operation Choke Point circumvents due process in attempt to shutter lawful businesses like payday lenders and ammunitions dealers.

Homeownership is out of reach for too many Americans. The next president could change that with a few simple policies aimed at encouraging private capital to invest in residential mortgages.

A tip from a whistle-blower led regulators to crack down on Citizens Financial Group for ignoring discrepancies between customer deposit slips and the amount actually placed into the bank — and similar actions against other banks could be on their way.

Argentine Federal Savings in Kansas City, Kan., has named Roger McWherter chief executive.

Enterprise Bancorp in Lowell, Mass., has named James Conway vice chairman and lead director.

Raymond Wilson is leaving the Honolulu bank, and current executives Anna Hu and Denis Isono will assume his duties later this month.

New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp in Concord will promote two executives to the position of president of its bank units after the retirement of Chief Executive Paul Rizzi.

FNBH Bancorp in Michigan has been unable to make an important move without its primary regulator's OK in the six years since its nonperforming assets hit double digits. It's an extreme example of the tension between past problems and future visions that freezes many banks.

Codorus Valley Bancorp in York, Pa., has given Chief Executive Larry Miller the additional title of chairman, after its longtime chair retired.

Wells Fargo's head of mortgage lending, Mike Heid, will retire in October. The San Francisco company will promote Franklin Codel, head of mortgage production, to succeed Heid as head of Wells Fargo Home Lending.

Broadway Financial in Los Angeles has named former MUFG Union Bank executive Erin Selleck to its board.

The operation is charged with illegally selling loan applicants’ financial information to a scam operation that took millions of dollars by debiting consumers' bank accounts and charging credit cards without consent.

Consumers' growing confidence about their ability to qualify for a mortgage is generating more foot traffic, sales orders and loan volume for some of the nation's largest homebuilders.

Some community banks stick with rigid or outdated policies out of habit. That winds up hurting them when customers take their business to financial institutions that use technology to make transactions more convenient.

The Federal Communications Commission fined Travel Club Marketing $2.96 million in what the agency is calling the largest robocall punishment to date.

Banco Santander SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain's top two banks, said last month they'd start charging non-customers about 2 euros ($2.19) a time to use their ATMs, joining CaixaBank SA, the third-biggest bank, which began levying the fee in March.

The longer the CFPB waits to implement tighter regulations for the payday lending industry, the more Americans will find themselves trapped in a cycle of unaffordable debt.

Fidelity National Information Services, a provider of banking and payments technology, agreed to buy software maker SunGard Data Systems in a deal valued at $9.1 billion, including the assumption of debt.

There are many concerning aspects of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's methods, not the least of which include its proclivity to regulate via enforcement and its reliance on overly broad and ambiguous languageto support its activities.

United Bancshares in Columbus Grove, Ohio, said its chief financial officer, Diana Engelhardt, has decided to resign.