Jay Sidhu's Pennsylvania company is building a separately branded bank that, like Simple, will target a demographic that feels no particular affinity toward traditional banks.

Regulators continue to make Bank Secrecy Act compliance one of their top priorities, according to newly available information on enforcement actions.

Pock.io is allowing consumers in the U.K. to buy gift cards from large merchants such as Apple by using Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Bankers gathered for the ICBA convention in Hawaii say intensifying competition from larger players is prompting more discussion about the need to gain scale — most likely through consolidation.

The Federal Trade Commission has sued a group of affiliated collection agencies and their owners for using the words "Federal," "American," "U.S.," or "State" in their names and for collection tactics such as threatening to arrest customers.

Federal regulators are shining an increasingly harsh light on the debt collections practices of banks and third-party agencies, forcing many to drastically alter the ways in which they interact with delinquent consumers. American Banker outlines the changes underway and how they may trickle down to collections efforts around the nation.

The GSEs reported big profits for 2013 but even the companies' executives question the sustainability of those earnings.

Bruce Berkowitz, the money manager battling the U.S. government over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is calling on the boards of the mortgage-finance giants to build capital instead of turning over their profits to the Treasury now that they've returned to profitability.

Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-biggest U.S. bank, said its Banamex USA unit received grand jury subpoenas related to compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and federal anti-money-laundering requirements.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is getting serious about getting to know its customers.

S&T Bank (STBA) has opened a new branch in State College, Pa., and hired two local community bankers to expand its presence in the region.

Two of the three major nonbank mortgage servicers are sticking by plans to acquire more portfolios from banks this year, despite regulatory scrutiny and concern they are growing too fast.

Lowell Group, a purchaser of non-performing consumer debt portfolios in the United Kingdom, is working on a deal aimed at slashing its cost of borrowing.

PNC Financial Services received a subpoena regarding the return rate for its payment-processor clients from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Louisiana's efforts to create a central collections office to pursue more than $1 billion in debts owed to the state government could take several years to complete, officials said.

Banks at risk of failure fell for the 11th straight quarter to nearly half the high mark of March 2011, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Excavators have begun tearing down 1,500 dilapidated homes in Flint, Mich., in an attempt to lift the housing market. The funding for the work comes from a surprising source — the Hardest Hit Fund of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

American Express is seeking to broaden its customer base by offering its first no-fee credit product that grants holders access to all of the lender's rewards programs.

Payments played a major role in the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Here are some of the biggest announcements that came out during the conference, and a few from just before or afterwards that were no less important to the mobile payments community.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shuttered the $130 million-asset Millennium Bank in Sterling, Va., while Pennsylvania state regulators closed the $63 million-asset Vantage Bank in Horsham, Pa.