Tight credit standards and student loan debt may be holding back the housing market, but equity research analyst Ivy Zelman thinks that homeownership will pick up along with the cyclical recovery. Banks are already "incrementally easing" their requirements for mortgage applicants with credit scores above 660, she says, and banks need to "fill the void" left by the refinancing slump.

Citigroup has promoted Peter Charrington to global head of Citi Private Bank.

BB&T has agreed to buy the Bank of Kentucky for $363 million in cash and stock. The acquisition would allow the $188 billion-asset BB&T to expand in the northern Kentucky and Cincinnati region, where the $1.9 billion-asset Bank of Kentucky operates 32 branches.

The Iowa Credit Union Division has placed Louden Depot Community Credit Union in Fairfield, Iowa, into receivership.

A recent study suggests that credit card issuers' marketing practices show evidence of racial bias. The good news is that self-tests can help lenders fix fair lending compliance issues, according to Rich Walker of the Winterberry Group.

Global Cash Access Holdings Inc., a provider of cash solutions to the casino industry, agreed to acquire Multimedia Games Holding Co. for $1.2 billion in cash, gaining a creator of electronic-gaming units to American Indian casinos and lotteries.

National Penn Bancshares in Allentown, Pa., plans to raise $100 million through a debt offering.

Citizens Financial Group, a U.S. subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, is seeking a valuation of as much as $14 billion as it enters the final stages of an initial public offering.

Alliance Data Systems announced what it described as a long-term agreement to issue credit cards for the Midwestern grocery store chain Meijer.

A conservative housing critic and liberal consumer advocate have created a 15-year home loan for low-income borrowers to build more equity.

The $2.5 billion-asset QCR said in a press release Friday that the new company will include the mortgage staff from its Quad City Bank & Trust.

WASHINGTON — Several trade groups representing Federal Home Loan bank members are urging a federal regulator to extend the comment period on a controversial proposal to change the system’s membership requirements.

Banc of California has announced extensive community reinvestment goals as part of its planned purchase of 20 Banco Popular branches in Southern California. The agreement, which appeased a community group that had opposed the sale, shows how much power such organizations wield when it comes to M&A.

Ted Strauss, a Dallas entrepreneur who helped establish two of the city's most-prominent banks, died Friday morning.

Citigroup's sale of nearly all its remaining Texas branches looks to be the last of its major branch reductions for awhile, as the downsizing campaign has helped enhance revenue prospects and contain costs.

Community banks are fighting a plan unveiled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that would force many banks and thrifts to maintain at least 10% of their assets in the form of home loans or mortgage-backed securities.

The income gap between wealthy and average consumers in the U.S. is growing while overall debt held by consumers dropped, according to the Federal Reserve's September survey on consumer finances.

Camden Fine at the Independent Community Bankers of America believes entrepreneurial bankers will return to starting new banks in the latter half of this decade as the industry adjusts to the new business conditions and as consolidation creates voids.

Today's hackers are "extremely sophisticated" and banks need to work hard to keep pace with their methods of attack, warns James Sills, who recently left his job as chief information officer for the state of Delaware to become CEO of a small bank in North Carolina.

Bankers criticize credit unions' tax-exempt status because they fear they are losing ground to member-owned financial cooperatives, writes the Credit Union National Association's Bill Hampel.