The White House plans to ask the largest U.S. firms to pay a $61 billion 'bank tax,' part of which will be used to pay for the administration's massive refinancing plan.

With the recess appointment of the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency is becoming even more active and issues are coming into focus. Financial institutions subject to its jurisdiction should pay attention to its Supervision and Examination Manual published in late 2011.

While small banks already face a mobile banking adoption deficit to their larger competitors, some community institutions are still questioning the channel's safety.

First Virginia Community Bank in Fairfax has raised $6.7 million in capital from old and new investors and intends to use the proceeds to continue its rapid growth.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon on Monday called for a loosening of rules in the mortgage market, saying it is still too difficult for people to secure mortgages.

Cambridge Savings Bank has started a new division to cater to local and regional nonprofit organizations.

OmniAmerican Bancorp in Fort Worth, Texas, said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings nearly quadrupled from the same period in 2010, to $1.2 million, as declines in loan yields were more than offset by an 18% increase in average balances of earning assets.

Those $1,500-$2,500 checks being sent to foreclosed-upon borrowers wouldn't cover Jamie Dimon's travel expenses to Davos.

Many small banks have never accepted that an exemption from the Durbin amendment will protect them from the measure's roughly 50% cut in debit interchange rates. Earnings at banks with assets of less than $10 billion appear to have been entirely untouched by the cap in the first quarter since its Oct. 1 implementation, however.

The National Credit Union Association said Monday that a federal credit union may set the maturity date for modified or refinanced mortgages beyond the regulatory 40-year maturity limit, as long as the terms of the original loan were no more than 40 years.

New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares Inc. in Newport said Monday that its chief executive, Stephen W. Ensign, is stepping down and that its president and chief operating officer will take over this role.

Highlands Bankshares Inc. in Petersburg, W. Va., is on the lookout for a new chief executive after announcing that C.E. Porter will retire in May.

A federal appeals court's recent decision in the case of a Los Angeles property owner and its network of subsidiaries provides Bank of America and other lenders with some leverage over commercial real estate companies trying to restructure in Chapter 11.

Centennial Bank in Denver is adding a new branch in Boulder as part of a broad strategy to establish a presence in some of the state's key banking markets.

A judicial panel dealt a legal blow to MERS by denying its motion to consolidate a Dallas County district attorney's lawsuit with other litigation against the mortgage database.

Bernard M. Trager, the founder of Republic Bank in Louisville and chairman of its holding company, died Friday after a long illness. He was 83.

For the moment, the job of ensuring that the nation's largest banks comply with the terms of last week's mammoth mortgage settlement falls on just one man: Joseph A. Smith, Jr., North Carolina's banking commissioner.

With problem real estate loans continuing to pile up, Western Liberty Bancorp in Las Vegas announced Monday that it lost $2.4 million in the fourth quarter and $14.2 million for the full year.

Colony Bankcorp Inc. in Fitzgerald, Ga., will suspend paying a dividend on preferred stock that the Treasury Department holds and interest payments on some junior debt.

Susquehanna Bank is using Facebook and Twitter to generate name awareness for the bank and produce donations to local food banks.