WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board finalized a rule Thursday that could spur small bank deals by expanding the number of bank holding companies that qualify for an exception allowing them to carry more debt.

Pinnacle Financial Partners has struck its first deal in nearly eight years, and it has the capacity to do more as it seeks to double its assets in Tennessee. But CEO Terry Turner says it is more likely to grow organically because there aren't many banks left in the state that he would want to buy.

First Horizon has agreed to pay $212.5 million to settle claims tied to the Memphis, Tenn., company's past underwriting and origination of certain loans.

WASHINGTON — Mortgage lender RMK Financial Corp. is facing a $250,000 fine by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on grounds that it used deceptive advertising.

Bank card and closed-end loan delinquencies rose in last year’s fourth quarter but were still near record lows, according to the American Bankers Association’s Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin.

Idea Bank in Poland aims to win over new small-business customers with an Uber-like service that orders cars equipped with ATMs and cash deposit machines to drive to them.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin said Thursday that it has offered buyouts to nearly 20% of its employees and is closing six branches as part of its ongoing effort to improve efficiency.

Financial Institutions Inc. in Warsaw, N.Y., has begun a $35 million debt offering to help fund growth.

Community First Bank in Seneca, S.C., has overhauled its executive management team, including naming new chief executive, financial and credit officers.

A rigorous job-training program run by the nonprofit Year Up is helping the likes of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase fill important technical positions. It's also helping lift young adults out of poverty and into meaningful careers.

While the CFPB's proposed rules may force payday lenders to adjust their business models, well-meaning ones should be able to operate in this new framework.

Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae revealed details Wednesday of its first-ever large sale of non-performing mortgages, a move that could make it easier for some of the borrowers behind the loans to stay in their homes.

Prosper Marketplace, one of the leading U.S. consumer marketplace lenders, announced $165 million in equity funding from large banks and other investors Wednesday.

The nation's largest banks are again under attack — this time over how they treat their own rank-and-file employees.

Mounting yet another defense of JPMorgan Chase’s size and scope, Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon pointed out the fallibility of smaller banks in his annual letter to shareholders.

Independent lenders rebut suggestions that they pose a greater risk to FHA (and hence taxpayers) than the large banks.

The $5.8 billion First Financial said in a press release Wednesday that it will pay $1.9 million in cash for 4Trust Mortgage in a deal that should close next month.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has filed a massive lawsuit against more than a dozen debt collectors, payment processors and related entities that the agency said failed to stop fraudulent collection tactics.

The agency announced Wednesday it had filed a massive lawsuit against more than a dozen debt collectors, payment processors and related entities that the agency said failed to detect fraudulent collection tactics. By including processors in its suit, observers said the CFPB's move resembles the Justice Department's Operation Choke Point.

The state's banking lobby is opposing a bill that would make it easier for thrifts to hold municipal deposits because the proposal would also let credit unions go after the same business.