Howard Milstein and other members of the family that owns Emigrant have hired Barclays Capital to explore selling its 33 branches or online banking operation. Emigrant still has to repay its federal aid and has been weighed down by problem loans.

Driven by strong growth in both interest and fee income, Territorial Bancorp Inc. in Honolulu reported a 6% increase in its fourth-quarter earnings, to $3.4 million.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman sued three of the nation's largest banks over a private national mortgage electronic registry system, claiming it has resulted in a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings.

The family that owns consumer products giant S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. has won approval from the Federal Reserve Board to invest $235 million in its ailing namesake bank.

While Bank of America is shedding mortgage servicing rights en masse, dozens of small- to medium-sized mortgage firms have been contemplating keeping the new MSRs they create instead of selling their loans.

The nation's largest banks are pulling back from buying mortgages, with grim implication for small originators and the housing market.

Continuing its string of insurance agency deals, BB&T Corp. announced Friday that it is buying the life and property and casualty insurance divisions of Crump Group Inc. for about $570 million in cash.

The next time somebody challenges Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, he should send them to the dictionary to look up the definition of his name.

The Senate approved an amendment to stop Fannie and Freddie from paying bonuses and a separate measure that would require members of Congress to disclose the terms of their mortgages.

Fueled by solid loan growth and sharply lower funding costs, CNB Financial Corp. in Clearfield, Pa., said Thursday that net income in the fourth quarter climbed 32% from the same period in 2010, to $3.9 million.

Analysts and former regulators debate whether last year's decline in new regulatory orders means things are improving for the banking industry, or if regulators are simply running out of sick banks to flag.

Nearly one year after the Treasury Department outlined a broad strategy for housing finance reform, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Thursday the administration will finally outline more specific plans in the next few months.

The credit card industry is inching closer to settling yet another challenge to its controversial interchange system, as MasterCard Inc. on Thursday reported setting aside $495 million tied to pending litigation.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Chairman Alan Levan says his company would likely be "out of business" within two years if certain investors succeed in blocking the sale of BankAtlantic's thrift to BB&T Corp.

Facebook's payments revenue is growing dramatically each year — and its digital currency could soon threaten banks as it moves into more traditional channels.

The Small Business Lending Fund is projected to generate an $80 million profit, rather than the $1.3 billion cost initially estimated, according to a Treasury Department report.

Want to jump to another bank that will pay you more? It's easier than you think for employers to prevent that, a business professor explains.

Porter Bancorp Inc. in Louisville, Ky. reported a bigger than expected loss for the fourth quarter and warned investors that the ultimate loss for the quarter could be even larger.

Provident Financial Holdings Inc. in Riverside, Calif., has hired 40 people from MetLife Inc. to run three new retail mortgage loan production offices in Northern California.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has named one of its longtime executives to head up its trust company.