Wal-Mart's new "Walmart-2-Walmart" transfer service will enable consumers to send money to each other by using the retail chain's store network.

PrivateBancorp (PVTB) in Chicago beat quarterly earnings estimates as its lending revenue and credit quality continued to improve.

The Cleveland company reported earnings of $236 million, up more than 18% from a year earlier. Earnings per share of 27 cents beat analysts' estimates polled by Bloomberg by three cents.

Webster Financial Corp. (WBS) in Waterbury, Conn., reported solid first-quarter results thanks to a surge in commercial lending.

BB&T (BBT) in Winston-Salem, N.C., narrowly missed Wall Street's first-quarter expectations because of sluggish loan growth.

William Young, the founding chief executive officer of Virginia Partners Bank in Fredericksburg, Va., will retire on June 30.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, plans to start a money transfer business as it works to provide customers with more financial services.

Hancock Holding (HBHC) in Gulfport, Miss., reported higher quarterly earnings after it aggressively cut costs.

American Express (AXP) reported a 12% increase in earnings Wednesday on the strength of improvements in credit quality, cuts in expenses and a modest boost in revenue.

Capital One (COF) in McLean, Va., posted slighter higher quarterly earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations.

B of A caught observers off guard by announcing $6 billion in mortgage litigation expenses, but the move is an attempt to convince analysts and investors that there is an end in sight to its crisis-era legal woes. It just might work.

WASHINGTON — Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said his agency is increasingly concerned about the cybersecurity risks from banks relying too much on certain vendors and using service providers in foreign countries.

As drafted, the Johnson-Crapo bill would allow big banks to originate, aggregate, and guarantee mortgages. Small lenders worry such vertically integrated companies could price them out of the business.

Executives at U.S. Bancorp, PNC and Huntington all sounded cautiously optimistic about lending opportunities and each has a favorite region when it comes to finding borrowers.

Bank of America Corp. is paying $950 million to settle claims that its Countrywide unit pooled faulty mortgages into securities that helped hobble Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. and saddled buyers with losses.

Demand for loans by consumers and businesses grew in the first quarter, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday.

The Obama administration is urging activists like the National Council of La Raza to support legislation to overhaul the housing finance market, ahead of a Senate Banking Committee vote scheduled for late April.

Mortgage applications, including requests for refinancings and for home purchase loans, rose from the previous week for the week ended April 11.

The Chicago-area company has shown a willingness to pursue small branch deals and expand in nearby Wisconsin as it looks for liquidity and lending opportunities.

As banks increasingly compete to manage their most affluent customers' assets, some financial companies are using savvy strategies to win a share of this lucrative business. American Banker reporters discuss the tactics some banks are using to stand out from the wealth-management crowd.