Government refinancing programs like Harp 2.0 are forcing banks to staff up refinancing units to handle a surge in demand.

With profit margins on HARP 2.0 refinancings sky high, Wells Fargo & Co., is putting caps on the loan-to-value ratio it will accept from third-party lenders, National Mortgage News has learned.

Regulators have terminated a memorandum of understanding with a banking unit of Banner Corp. after the Walla Walla, Wash., company returned to profitability for 2011.

Bank of America said it will offer a small number of customers facing foreclosure the option to remain in their homes and rent the property instead.

Before moaning about unbanked consumers and their supposed lack of financial literacy, bankers, federal regulators, lawmakers might consider that there once was a product that targeted this situation.

With all due respect to my friend Chris Whalen, the view from Main Street in Ashland, Missouri; Newman Grove, Nebraska or Pine Mountain, Georgia is much different than the view from the 26th floor of West 57th Street in New York City.

Wells Fargo’s origination business has been operating at full steam, keeping the company’s mortgage servicing assets well above a cap proposed under Basel III. A new servicer compensation system could resolve the issue, but something has to give.

Participants at the Consumer Bankers Association meeting in Austin ranked important financiers and regulators using the model of the NCAA basketball tourney.

Commerce Bancshares — a Worcester, Mass., bank that specializes in classic car and small aircraft loans — would become a lender to buyers of Boston taxi medallions by acquiring Mercantile Capital, CEO Brian Thompson says.

Steve Bartlett, who has run the Financial Services Roundtable trade group for 13 years, will retire at the end of the year.

Discover Financial Services' Pulse debit network posted solid gains in the first quarter, but executives say a new rule banning network exclusivity could prove a hurdle going forward.

A handful of banks, including CertusHoldings and Hancock Holding, have dual CEOs, which they believe helps with internal management and growth initiatives such as acquisitions.

American Banker editors Neil Weinberg and Harry Terris discuss how Basel III capital adequacy requirements are causing major upheaval in the servicing market. Under U.S. regulators, even more changes are on the way.

Amex opened a new Manhattan office last year to nurture its digital wallet, Serve — and to remove the 200 employees devoted to that project from the culture and tradition of its main office.

The Treasury Department has hired Melissa Koide, vice president of policy for the non-profit Center for Financial Services Innovation, which focuses on providing expanding the availability of financial services.

The Senate by a clear margin passed legislation Thursday making it easier for small banks to attract investors without having to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Don Gibson's $560 million-asset bank has been so profitable for years that he joins Jamie Dimon and John Stumpf on KBW's new honor roll for profitable banks.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Thursday unveiled an interactive database with answers to consumers' frequently asked questions about financial products.

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp gained a 25% stake in Liberty Bell Bank after its former chairman Michael Kwasnik defaulted on a loan. Kwasnik had used the stake in recent years to stymie Liberty Bell while trying to take over the bank.

Unsuccessful in its bid to raise capital and recently ordered by regulators to bolster its loan-loss allowance, Fidelity Bank in Dearborn, Mich., is now critically undercapitalized and has told investors that is in danger of failing.