American Express and Wal-Mart launched the Bluebird card last October. By January, it had over 575,000 account holders and $275 million in funds loaded onto the cards. Eighty-five percent of Bluebird customers are new to Amex, and 45% under 35.

Banco Santander SA, Spain's biggest bank, named Javier Marin as chief executive officer to replace Alfredo Saenz, who resigned.

Folks often ask me how we come up with ideas for the stories published in American Banker Magazine. My answer is that there are all kinds of ways, and this issue perfectly illustrates several of them.

The top 200 community banks and thrifts as ranked by three-year average ROE.

The success of early microfinance programs has attracted big money, and big problems, to the business. A new study details how the mission of microlending has gotten off track, and why helping impoverished women is getting harder to do.

Generations Bank CEO stops in for coffee, steps out with idea for new auto loan program.

Retail bankers are stuck at multiple crossroads, trying to determine the future of their businesses with conflicting sets of directions.

Be proud, Gen-X bankers. You are the "hybrid" breed of old school and new school in an industry that needs both, consultant Richard Henry writes.

JPMorgan Chase's Elaine Agather, RBS Citizens' Daniel Fitzpatrick and other bankers who take community engagement to a new level.

JPMorgan Chase loses another top exec as co-chief operating officer Frank Bisignano leaves to run payment processor First Data. The move further consolidates power with Matt Zames, whose rapid ascent will in leave him as the sole COO.

TAMPA, Fla. – Suncoast Schools FCU plans to open a new environmentally friendly branch in Fort Myers next month – its second new branch in three months after a five-year hiatus on branch building.

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – Chartway FCU last week purchased an 83,436-square-foot, four-story building in nearby Virginia Beach for $11 million.

Regulators shut down Douglas County Bank in Douglasville, Ga., and Parkway Bank in Lenoir, N.C. Between them they had assets of $425 million and will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $105 million.

First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., has been freed from an enforcement action.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took enforcement actions against six banks last month that tied to their capital, compliance and financial condition, according to a series of orders released Friday.

To avoid unwanted scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulators, banks need to start thinking about "what is fair, not just what is legal," banking attorneys say.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a rule Friday attempting to clarify how it would use its Civil Penalty Fund, which holds money it collects as a result of fines against financial companies.

BNC Bancorp (BNCN) in Thomasville, N.C., plans to buy back its Troubled Asset Relief Program shares from investors who bought them in a Treasury Department auction last summer.

Patience is wearing thin among investors with banks' lack of prospects for producing returns, as a hedge fund official's call for the sale of American River in California shows.

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau works on finalizing mortgage rules, Kelly Cochran, the assistant director for regulations, says it is taking concerns about burdens on small lenders and access to credit "very seriously."