The Federal Housing Finance Agency wants to exclude mortgage real estate investment trusts from membership in the Federal Home Loan Banks. That would be a major setback for the entry-level borrowers who depend on mortgage REITs for sustainable home-financing options.

First Choice Bank, in Cerritos, Calif., has raised $30 million from a secondary stock offering.

South Shore Bank in South Weymouth, Mass., has named new chief executive and chief operating officers.

Clifford Isroff, the lead director of FirstMerit in Akron, Ohio, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 79.

PayPal has agreed to acquire Xoom for $890 million, as the consumer payments company looks to expand into the international remittances business.

The chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may see more than a sixfold increase in their compensation to $4 million in spite of objections from President Barack Obama's administration and some lawmakers.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin in Madison said it expects to save about $5.4 million yearly after it completed an employee buyout, sold a branch, closed six branches and introduced a new branch staffing model.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering two vendors that sell credit card add-on products to pay nearly $10 million in combined fines and restitution for allegedly charging consumers for services never rendered.

Riverview Financial in Harrisburg, Pa., has promoted its president to chief executive after its previous CEO retired, and delayed its planned acquisition of a western Pennsylvania community bank.

PayPal, Amazon, Square and American Express have all built new businesses by extending credit to merchants that already rely on their payment networks. Their client relationships give them certain advantages over banks, marketplace lenders and others.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., has again extended the deadline to complete its acquisitions of Central Community in Temple, Texas, and Ouachita Bancshares in Monroe, La.

Always-connected workers report feelings of guilt as well as privacy concerns around the use of mobile devices for personal matters at work, and vice versa. Bank CIOs are facing this challenge with software tools and mobile device management policies.

Green Dot MoneyPak cards were phased out late last year because of fraud concerns, but they are finding a new life on Netflix. The hit show "Orange Is the New Black" features the prepaid reload cards in a storyline in the women's prison that houses the main characters.

Synchrony Financial signed a multiyear extension with Chevron to issue cards and the two companies introduced a new rewards program.

Nearly 85% of the acquisitions announced this year have involved sellers with $500 million or less in assets. Investment bankers expect more of the same in the final six months of this year.

Banks looking to improve their sales should follow a simple rule of thumb: the more friendly, casual chats staffers have with current and potential customers, the more business they create.

After it all but stopped making real estate and development loans following the housing crash, Farmers & Merchants Bank has increased its real estate loans by more than 61% over the last two years. It's a figure that's likely to keep rising as California's real estate market heats up and the $5.6 billion-asset bank continues to add commercial real estate, construction and mortgage lending specialists to keep pace.

A New York City law regulating collections doesn’t have more power than the state's authority to regulate the industry, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., has provided five top executives with nearly 3 million reasons to successfully integrate Susquehanna Bancshares in Lititz, Pa.

Citizens Financial in Mansfield, Pa., has agreed to buy First National Bank of Fredericksburg in Pennsylvania.