Independent Bank (IBCP) in Ionia, Mich., has raised $89 million as part of a plan to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Mortgage lenders are facing billions of dollars in new demands that they make whole the government and government-sponsored entities for housing-backed investments that have gone sour. American Banker staffers discuss why now, what additional banks are likely to get sucked in and whether an end to the demands is in sight.

The strength of America's financial system is a result of the diversity of its players, but that diversity won’t survive if our nation continues down the path of one-size-fits-all regulatory reform.

Disaster recovery. Offering customers job-search help. Penetrating underserved markets. Dishing out ice cream to promote a brand. Financial institutions have a multitude of reasons for deploying services on wheels. Here are five financial institutions offering services via motor vehicle across the country.

The chief credit officer at Hanmi Financial in Los Angeles has resigned.

Consumers' confidence in the economy moved closer to a 5 1/2-year high as a result of growing optimism that wages and hiring will improve in the next few months.

Heartland Financial in Dubuque, Iowa, has hired a chief financial officer.

Bitcoin has gained legitimacy from an unexpected source — it has been added to the Oxford Dictionary Online, along with several other less cultivated words, such as "twerk" and "selfie."

The investor group that plans to recapitalize U.S. Century Bank in Doral, Fla., has reportedly revised its offer to give a larger stake to preexisting shareholders.

Bitcoin companies have had a tough time getting banks to agree to give them accounts — but a New Jersey credit union has agreed to work with Tradehill, a bitcoin exchange. Is this a ray of hope for bitcoin businesses, or will most be doomed to live in exile from the mainstream financial services industry?

Security California Bancorp in Riverside is working with a venture-capital firm to fund high-tech businesses.

First Citizens Bancshares in Raleigh, N.C., has agreed to buy 1st Financial Services in Hendersonville, N.C.

A New Jersey credit union has agreed to accept accounts transferred from a trading exchange that handles Bitcoin and other virtual currencies. The move, apparently aimed at attracting business from investors and financial institutions that trade in the alternative forms of tender, could provide them with a much needed level of legitimacy. Staff reporters discuss.

If the suit is settled, JPMorgan would become the fourth — and largest — bank to resolve allegations that it fraudulently sold poorly underwritten loans to Fannie and Freddie.

First Financial Bancorp (FFBC) in Cincinnati has retooled the management structure of its bank.

Many banks are trying to lure newly affluent age groups with high-tech services, but they might have better luck adopting a mom-and-pop approach, according to research from corporate anthropologist Andrea Simon.

Shon Hopwood has taken an unusual path: from bank heists to prison to law school … and now a prestigious federal clerkship.

The surge of institutional money into banking stocks is likely to continue for at least another quarter, according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Wells Fargo's (WFC) regional president of Florida operations has been promoted to a national executive.

Regulators are widely expected Wednesday to unveil far less stringent standards than an earlier proposal for the "qualified residential mortgages" that are exempt from new risk-retention requirements for securitized loans.