A half billion dollars in PE funding has breathed life into North Carolina banking, raising questions about whether community bankers nationwide should be teaming up with Mitt Romney's old industry.

The Treasury Department has successfully sold off its shares in seven more community banks as part of its ongoing effort to wind down the four-year-old Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Many so-called consumer advocates doubt consumers can make responsible decisions about credit and believe they should be "protected" from certain financial products. We did not sense this sort of patronizing viewpoint from the new agency.

Foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were reported on 205,990 U.S. properties in May, an increase of 9% from April but still down 4% from the year-ago period.

Crestmark Bancorp of Troy, Mich., has purchased the working capital loan portfolio from First Citizens Bank and has entered into partnership with the Raleigh, N.C., company.

About 35 million Americans are considered underbanked. According to a Javelin study, this group has higher income and potential interest in traditional banking than you might think.

Cambridge Savings Bank in Massachusetts said that Robert Wilson, its president and chief executive, has taken a medical leave.

WASHINGTON — Industry groups asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Wednesday to convene a panel to review the potential effects of new mortgage lending standards on small businesses.

In what would be its first acquisition since its founding in 2007, fast-growing First Virginia Community Bank has agreed to buy 1st Commonwealth Bank of Virginia.

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) in Columbus, Ohio, continues to bet big on in-store branches.

Fannie Mae went in-house to recruit three of its last four CEOs, a strategy likely calculated to rebuild internal morale. Freddie Mac hired three of its last four chiefs from outside, signaling continued housecleaning.

A fight between ECB Bancorp in North Carolina and the Gibbs family foreshadows clashes at many community banks between today's managers and ownership interests from yesteryear.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will use the data to make recommendations to Congress, which could include changes to the private student loan market.

An employee of First Federal Savings Bank of Iowa helps rescue a kitten trapped in a ventilation pipe next to one of the bank's branches.

The Federal Reserve Board has lifted a written agreement with Baylake Corp. that required the Sturgeon Bay, Wis., company to improve its asset quality and earnings.

The former chief executive of a failed Florida community bank has been sentenced to six years in prison for lying to regulators about the bank's condition.

A U.S. district court has halted an operation that allegedly preyed on financially vulnerable homeowners, convincing them to pay $1,995 or more by holding out false promises that they could help them avoid foreclosure and renegotiate their mortgages.

Experian will offer a new product that assesses the creditworthiness of consumers with little or no traditional credit history.

A federal court panel said Bank of America Corp. (BAC) can't consolidate multiple lawsuits involving losses suffered from the collapse of Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. and Colonial Bank in a multibillion-dollar fraud.

Bethpage Federal Credit Union on Tuesday said personal information from 86,000 of its members' Visa debit card accounts had been accidentally exposed on the Internet by an employee.