First Financial Bancorp announced plans to trim its expense base by $17.1 million over the next year.

The leading insurer in the force-placed market is working to make its products more flexible as regulators push on pricing and payments to servicers. Some large banks are changing their practices, too.

If Romney wins the White House, Republicans will likely push through changes to the CFPB's leadership structure, but could butt heads in the short term with Director Richard Cordray.

Largely silent until now, merchants who support the the $7.5 billion settlement over credit card interchange fees have a message for the more vocal dissenters: take the deal and move on.

EverBank Financial (EVER) showed during the third quarter that it was willing to sacrifice its net interest margin to build both sides of its balance sheet.

Joseph Ficalora, the CEO of New York Community Bancorp, blames the tumble in its shares this week on traders betting against the company ahead of its third-quarter earnings report.

C.G. Kum, the CEO of First California Financial Group, gave inconclusive answers to analysts' questions about whether the $2 billion-asset company can resist shareholder calls to seek buyer.

Sales of existing homes edged up slightly in September in a sign the housing market continues to recover slowly.

Experts believe more Tarp participants will fail as the economy plods along, and that investors should keep this in mind when bidding on auctions of the Treasury's Tarp holdings.

The Uniform Law Commission's commercial code excludes debit cards, which is problematic since courts tend to reject class-action challenges that conflict with it.

A slew of proposed rules and policy changes is threatening to upend the nascent housing market rebound. The rules include everything from Basel capital standards to "qualified mortgage" rules to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees.

Retiring Visa CEO Joseph Saunders and his successor, JPMorgan's Charlie Scharf, spoke with American Banker about the challenges facing the card network, the changing payments industry, mounting regulations and the importance of an orderly leadership transition.

Zillow, the online real estate company, said Thursday it has added information on 1.8 million pre-foreclosure and foreclosed homes to its site.

About $1.4 trillion of deposits are covered by federal insurance due to lapse in two months. How corporations have handled their cash over the last few years provides a guide to what might happen to the money.

The technology that lets a user deposit checks by taking photos of them with his smartphone is being applied to mortgage documents, though with some limits.

An employee of Mercantile Bank in Grand Rapids, Mich., showed a crowd of eager pupils how to get in touch with their inner-zombies at an event teaching the steps from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.

Yadkin Valley Financial has raised $45 million through a private placement and said it will use the funds to "complete strategic classified asset disposition sales."

The New York firm led by Joseph Stilwell disclosed stakes in four new thrifts and cashed out of 10 other institutions during the third quarter. Its investments often signal plans to pressure companies to improve shareholder value.

Critics of nonbanks contend that consumers use "high-cost" alternatives because they are financially illiterate. But, like most simplistic conclusions, this one is seldom accompanied by facts and is as wrong as it is demeaning of the innate intelligence of these consumers.

A pickup in lending lifted First California Financial Group (FCAL) in Westlake Village in the third quarter.