WASHINGTON – Joseph A. Smith, Jr., who will monitor the 49-state mortgage settlement with the five largest servicers, resigned Tuesday as North Carolina's bank commissioner.

The emergence of several new prepaid debit card programs and growing national distribution of major prepaid card brands is helping to generate marketplace interest in buying and selling prepaid card portfolios.

Radian Guaranty's delinquent loan inventory grew by 500 loans in December, but then fell by 1,000 units during January.

Just how hungry is Ocwen Financial Corp. for servicing rights? In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the nonbank servicer discloses that it is currently reviewing $300 billion of MSRs for purchase.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have allowed government-backed Farm Credit System lenders to make more home loans.

President Obama announced Monday a doubling of a proposed tax on big banks to $61 billion. For the White House, the political appeal is obvious but the proposal itself appears highly unlikely to ever become law.

Rather than wait for government or plaintiff lawyers to find them, banks that were involved in the syndication of mortgage backed securities should control their exposure through a proactive, rigorous self-study program.

Banks seem eager to move unwanted assets off the books. Though single-family homes garner most of the headlines, banks are also attempting to sell other types of collateral at bargain-rate prices. In some ways, it looks like a yard sale. Here are a few examples of the assets that banks are peddling online.

Memorial services were held in Charlotte Monday for Thomas Storrs, the former chairman and chief executive of North Carolina National Bank who laid the groundwork for today's Bank of America Corp.

Three months after Forrest Shook resigned as Fentura Financial's chairman, the company said in a regulatory filing that another key executive, CFO Douglas Kelley, is leaving its ranks.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Tinker FCU paid $5.2 million for 57,000 square feet of office space in south Oklahoma City to allow for growth of operations.

Hampton Roads Bankshares of Norfolk, Va., announced that it plans to pursue a stock offering next quarter in which it hopes to raise between $54 million and $86 million. Separately, it has named Douglas J. Glenn its president and chief executive.

The premium increase, expected to be announced in the next week, is one of a series of steps the FHA is taking to avoid a taxpayer bailout.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has requested $448 million from the Federal Reserve in 2013, according to the president's budget proposal, which also outlines the fees that regulators expect to collect from banks this year and would provide significant increases for the CFTC.

Fees for closing an account within a few months of opening it shouldn’t be lumped in with truly abusive industry practices.

The mortgage settlement was a political coup for President Obama and state attorneys general. For banks, it was merely the latest turn in a long and winding effort to put housing problems behind them.

Google's mobile wallet is getting a lot of attention, but from the wrong crowd — security experts.

Greg Gonzales closed two banks last month and a slew of new problem banks could keep him busy this year. In a recent interview, he says his strategy gives struggling banks a reality check, but enough rope as possible to solve their problems.