Mortgage earnings climbed to 14% of total revenues at Wells Fargo in the fourth quarter. Banks say they can scale down operations quickly when volume fizzles.

Banks want to collect more data to target offers at their card customers. One company's facial-recognition system may offer an edge, assuming it's not going too far.

Eight new members have joined the committee that advises the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on community-bank policy.

Lakeland Bancorp in Oak Ridge has agreed to buy Somerset Hills Bancorp in Bernardsville, N.J.

As loan-loss reserves normalize, the earnings benefit from lower provision expenses will abate and earnings will be squeezed. M&A should emerge as an attractive strategy to maintain earnings and generate growth.

A ruling by a federal appeals court last week that President Obama acted improperly in recess appointing members of the National Labor Relations Board may encourage Democrats to cut a deal on the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

IMGCAP(1)]

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is standing up for megabanks against growing criticism and calls for their breakup.

Zions Bancorp. (ZION) posted lower fourth-quarter earnings after taking a big charge on its holdings of collateralized debt obligations.

Richard Cordray's recess appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may ultimately be invalidated, but legal experts say several recent mortgage regulations approved on his watch may still be upheld.

Sierra Vista Bank (SVBA) in Folsom, Calif., is soldiering on with newly raised capital, though its profit shrank in the fourth quarter.

EverBank and OneWest appear set to do what regulators and the largest mortgage servicers concluded was impractical: Finish the independent foreclosure reviews.

Other acquisitive banks have dropped regional monikers, but Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., is focusing on service instead of rebranding, its CEO says.

First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., reported higher quarterly earnings after settling a lawsuit with an activist investor.

Persistent challenges such as margin compression and rising expenses will eventually force more banks to sell.

The inspector general monitoring Tarp says that, despite its previous warnings, the Treasury Department has failed to improve its policies and procedures to ensure that its own guidelines on executive pay are met.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will let some borrowers who kept up payments as their homes lost value erase their debts by giving up the properties.

Reopening the mortgage securitization pipeline is a vital step toward a housing market recovery that will boost the wider economy, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said today in a Las Vegas speech.

Wells Fargo (WFC) changed its compensation for some mortgage salespeople to include a reward for submitting complete loan applications to processors and underwriters within five days.

Investar would acquire a bank with two branches in southeastern Louisiana.