The invention of baby carrots transformed Americans' vegetable-eating habits. Banks need to shake up their products and services in a similarly unique way if they hope to differentiate themselves, according to Bill Early of PlumDog Financial.

Staff from Alliance Credit Union walked through the debris in the troubled city of Ferguson, Mo., Wednesday, asking business owners if they needed a 0% loan.

A former Minnesota debt collector was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.

Stoneleigh Recovery Associates, based in Lombard, Ill., has acquired R&B Collections Inc. of Roswell, Ga. in a deal funded through a mix of cash on hand and new debt.

Some politicians and regulators appear determined to shrink big banks. But doing so could hurt Americans who appreciate big banks' geographical reach and wide range of services, according to financial markets scholar Stephen Matteo Miller.

A nursing home located in New Rochelle, N.Y. will pay $2.2 million to settle allegations that the business and its owner submitted more than 62,000 inflated claims to the New York State Medicaid Program.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) will pay $16.65 billion to end federal and state probes into mortgage bond sales, the harshest penalty yet related to loans that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, the Justice Department said.

The errors - attributed to software purchased by a vendor - resulted in inaccurate customer credit information being reported to the credit bureaus. The CFPB warns that blaming vendors for technical snafus is not acceptable.

In the push for more noninterest income, regional banks have expanded their investment banking divisions, including capital markets and M&A advisory. Regions Financial has the most challenging task, as it rebuilds after divesting Morgan Keegan.

Polonia Bancorp in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., has begun looking for a new president and chief executive to replace its retiring CEO Anthony Szuszczewicz.

City National in Los Angeles has formed an Asian subsidiary to provide research for its emerging markets fund.

A candidate for the Massachusetts Attorney General's office and consumer advocates are calling for a halt to a new state program that uses automated calls to collect undeserved unemployment benefits.

Lamassu Bitcoin Ventures is sending its Bitcoin ATMs to areas that may not be completely welcoming to digital currency, with its newest machine touching down today in the West Village of New York City, the birthplace of the "BitLicense" regulatory concept.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau held a Texas-based subprime auto lender responsible for serious credit reporting errors tied to its third-party vendor's software.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation has approved Florida Central Credit Union's bid to buy a Sarasota, Fla., branch from First Federal Bank of Florida.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to serve Ocwen Financial Corp. with its second subpoena in as many months, adding to the already mounting regulatory pressure facing the country's largest nonbank servicer.

Bank of America has agreed to pay $17 billion to settle federal investigators' allegations that it sold shoddy mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis.

Banc of California in Irvine is working to address material weaknesses in its internal controls.

The paper check is being eliminated as a redemption option in JPMorgan Chase's rewards program as the issuer encourages consumers to request statement credits instead.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered First Investors Financial Services Group to pay a nearly $3 million fine on charges the subprime auto lender reported inaccurate customer credit information to the credit bureaus.