Heartland Financial in Dubuque, Iowa, has split the positions of president and chief executive, the company announced Wednesday.

Most big companies achieve success by squeezing vendors, lowering prices, improving efficiency and giving consumers what they want. But in the topsy-turvy world of banking, the most disliked financial institutions end up at the top of the food chain.

Daily spending among middle- and lower-income Americans, those with annual household incomes of less than $90,000 a year, increased to $79 in November from $76 in October, according to a new Gallup poll.

A class-action lawsuit filed in California accuses CorrectiveSolutions of unfairly collecting debts by paying district attorneys to use their letterheads and seals.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Canada's largest lender by assets, said fourth-quarter profit rose 8 percent as earnings from domestic and wholesale banking increased.

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has partnered with the digital currency network provider Ripple Labs to allow enterprise businesses, including banks, to more efficiently transmit money worldwide.

Blue Elephant Capital Management is planning a second fund to buy loans originated on online marketplaces. Unlike its first fund, this one will be unlevered, backed entirely by institutional investors' cash.

Citigroup has resolved a hang-up in its federal settlement of claims that it failed to protect the personal data of thousands of customers in bankruptcy proceedings.

Bankrate Inc., an aggregator and publisher of rate data and news related to personal finance, has acquired Wallaby Financial Inc., a firm that provides credit card reward apps to consumers.

At a roundtable with federal and state regulators in Los Angeles this week, bankers offered some fresh ideas about possible regulatory relief. Here is a sampling.

Veteran banker Simon Williams has rejoined the board of Lending Club on the eve of its high-profile initial public offering.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has approved several new rules for debt collectors, including an extended period for consumers to dispute a collection attempt.

In at least three recent instances, trust-preferred investors have filed lawsuits against lenders who either bought or sold banks in transactions designed to bypass such debtholders.

LendingTree already facilitated small-business loans through its online marketplace that funds consumer and other loans; its web portal opened Wednesday exclusively shops small-business loans to individual and institutional investors.

The Oregon bank continues to draw consumers in unexpected ways. Its traveling digital art show, called “Exhibit: Growth," underscores how financial institutions are rethinking the ways they advertise their services.

Beal was a senior vice president in transaction management at Clayton Holdings and an advocate for tougher due diligence in residential mortgage-backed securities after the financial crisis.

New York regulators on Wednesday are set to announce new debt collection rules that will require collectors to produce loan documents or a court judgment if requested. Regulators believe the rules will help guide an industry that has gone largely unregulated despite thousands of consumer complaints each year.

Depositors at Reading Co-operative in Reading, Mass., approved a plan to make it more difficult for the thrift to convert to a public stock company.

An Atlanta-based health billing company and its former CEO settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they misled thousands of consumers who signed up for an online billing portal.

Charity care and community benefit at the Cleveland Clinic jumped to $652 million in 2013, up 7% from $610 million in 2012, according to numbers released by health system.