Meta Financial Group (CASH) of Storm Lake, Iowa, has agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with investors related its former high-interest, small-balance loan program, iAdvance.

Barry Sloane of Newtek Business Services says his small-merchant clients are reaping little benefit from the cap on debit interchange fees.

HSBC's residential lending and servicing business continues to be under what the bank calls a "strategic review," leaving its mortgage workers in limbo.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association has raised the possibility of creating a hybrid reverse mortgage loan with members of the White House staff, Peter Bell, its president and CEO told attendees at the group's eastern regional meeting in New York.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has ordered AmericaHomeKey, Inc., to immediately stop making FHA-insured mortgages and fined the Dallas-based lender $268,000.

Capital Bank Financial, a Miami company formed two years ago to buy distressed banks in the Southeast, has struck a deal to acquire Southern Community Financial (SCMF) in Winston-Salem, N.C., for $48.4 million.

No one can ever accuse Steve Huston of being a heartless banker. Huston, the owner of Bankwest Financial in Rockford, Minn., resuscitated Dr. Frank Anderson during a pickup basketball game in January, a local Fox News affiliate reported last week.

Mortgage delinquencies on single-family homes declined in February, snapping a five-month streak of increases, according to a monthly report from Freddie Mac.

The other morning I was at the counter of the local UPS store notarizing a document when I was shocked by a comment by a woman standing nearby. This nationwide franchise provides post office boxes, packing, shipping, copying and many other individual and business-related services through 4,700 convenient small corner or mini-mall stores. My head snapped as she told the clerk, "I would like to make a deposit." At first I thought she was making a deposit for a purchase or on a bill or perhaps depositing a package of goods for shipping.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Warren FCU is hunting for a new site after yesterday’s announcement that Main Street Market is closing the only grocery store in nearby Wellington, Colo., and with it an in-store branch of the credit union.

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James Gutierrez, founder of micro-lender Progreso Financiero, is leaving the company to start a new firm that will offer cloud-based payments for the unbanked, he told American Banker.

BankAtlantic Bancorp (BBX) said in a regulatory filing that it will change its name to BBX Capital as part of its deal to sell its thrift to BB&T (BBT) in Winston-Salem, N.C.

American Express Co. (AXP), the largest credit-card lender by spending, is raising its quarterly dividend 11% to 20 cents per share, its first increase since November 2007.

An institutional investor at Broadway Financial (BYFC) has agreed to swap its preferred shares for common stock to help the Los Angeles company attract more capital.

Most marketing executives at Wall Street firms believe that new regulations governing the financial services industry will go a long way toward helping banks, brokerage houses and investment banks improve their reputations.

Author David Wolman discusses why mobile money has taken off in Africa and India and how it can happen here.

Regulators have lifted an informal agreement with the banking unit of MainSource Financial Group (MSFG) in Greensburg, Ind.

At least three serial consolidators are positioning themselves for more deals should the right opportunity arise. SCBT and Iberiabank filed shelf registrations this month, while Wintrust raised $127 million.