If you thought bankers were happy when Barney Frank left, try 'em now that Sen. Carl Levin has decided to retire next year and relinquish his hold on the aptly named Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is urging the Justice Department to investigate Lender Processing Services for double-billing of foreclosure-related legal fees.

U.S. private-equity investors Wilbur Ross and J. Christopher Flowers are lining up to finance British homebuyers as the country's biggest banks pull back.

Costly due diligence and the heavy demands of institutional investors still make it difficult for aspiring acquirers to pull the trigger on bank M&A.

MBIA lost an appeals court bid to recover from the FDIC at least $244 million of claims and expenses stemming from mortgage-backed securities issued by IndyMac, which failed in 2008.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. responds to two recent posts that cited its underbanked survey results.

First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Bucks County still likes mortgage lending but has turned to sophisticated hedging to manage risk, incoming CEO Jeane Coyle says.

Provident Bank announced Thursday that it had hired John Lynch, a senior financial consultant who will focus on clients in the lower Hudson Valley.

William Loving believes that the banking industry will shrink at a much slower rate than what many predict.

Pacific Mercantile in Costa Mesa, Calif., reported a fourth-quarter loss as expenses rose and a tax benefit dwindled.

The Treasury Department plans to auction its holdings in seven banks, including Flagstar Bancorp (FBC), as it continues to unwind the Troubled Asset Relief Program holdings.

Bank of Farmington in Illinois is launching an investment-services division. The new unit, Bank of Farmington Investment Services, will be headed by financial advisor Chad Mayall.

Cascade Bancorp (CACB), the holding company for the $1.3 billion-asset bank, said Thursday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities have terminated an August 2009 cease-and-desist order with the bank.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., has priced a planned secondary offering by its biggest investors.

Union First Market Bankshares in Richmond, Va., has repurchased a large block of common stock from one of its largest investors.

Since 1995, when the San Francisco bank made its first commitment to female-owned businesses, it has lent them an average of $2.1 billion per year.

M&T CEO Robert Wilmers packs a punch in his annual letters to shareholders. Here are some of the highlights of this year's missive.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) has asked the Federal Reserve to authorize a $1.2 billion share buyback program this year, in a bid to prove it has recovered from the financial crisis and improved its operations in the past year.

The merger of NBT Bancorp (NBT) and Alliance Financial Group (ALNC) is nearly official.

CommunityBank of Texas has agreed to buy Vista Bank Texas. "These are two independent powerhouses coming together to fill a hole in the Houston banking market," said J. Pat Parsons, CommunityBank's CEO.