Sen. Robert Menendez wants to let lenders share in future home price increases if they agree to reduce the mortgage principal owed by homeowners today.

Depending on who you talked to, the massive mortgage servicer settlement announced Thursday was either a "criminal sell out" or a much-needed shot in the arm for the housing market. In reality, however, it appeared to be neither.

Evans Bancorp Inc. in Angola, N.Y., has reported that fourth-quarter income more than doubled from a year ago, to $1.3 million, due to higher net interest income and a lower provision for loan and lease losses.

How is Wells Fargo & Co.'s $15 billion deal for Wachovia Corp. three years ago working out for the San Francisco company? Really, really well, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Timothy Sloan said Thursday.

Bank of America customers in upstate New York were issued new debit and credit cards after a third-party breach possibly compromised their information.

VIST Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., said after markets closed Thursday that it lost $24.6 million in the fourth quarter after it wrote down $25 million of goodwill in connection with its pending sale to Tompkins Financial Corp. of Ithaca, N.Y.

Private-equity firms complain about the government dragging its feet in approving their bank deals, but the investors in ECB Bancorp may have found a silver lining.

Most of the costs were either previously reserved for or will be incurred over several years. Among the five banks that settled (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Allied Financial and Citigroup), only Citi had to take a charge.

Even two years ago, when the first U.S. financial institution committed to issuing secure chip cards, vendors said no one was lined up to follow. But times have quickly changed.

The government-owned Ally Financial has issued an offering book on Residential Capital Corp. in the hope that it can finally unload its money-losing mortgage division and take the rest of the company public, according to investment bankers familiar with the matter.

Add Minnesota Bank & Trust in Edina to the growing list of community banks bulking up in mortgage lending in hopes of capturing market share from larger banks.

Three months after a new rule capped debit card swipe fees, Visa Inc. is weathering a slowdown in its U.S. debit business, though it has so far avoided the doomsday scenarios once predicted.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt says his 49 counterparts exceeded their authority by pushing for principal reductions. So he’s entered into a separate settlement in which banks would pay $18.6 million.

The London bank's U.S. operation this week celebrated the start of the "exciting, unpredictable" lunar Year of the Dragon.

In a sign of growing optimism about the economy, community banks, credit unions and other lenders approved more small-business loan applications in January than in any other month during the past year, according to an analysis by Biz2credit.

The $25 billion 'robo-signing' settlement with five major servicing banks announced Thursday morning could yield nearly $35 billion in principal reductions, according to Housing and Urban Development secretary Shaun Donovan.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama praised the "landmark" $25 billion settlement between federal and state authorities and the top five mortgage servicers, saying it would "begin to turn the page on an era of recklessness that has left so much damage in its wake."

Banks have been successful at beating back legal challenges to credit card payment protection plans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could change that.

Total System Services says Tinkoff. Credit Systems Bank, of Moscow, has upgraded to the latest version of the TSYS' card and merchant management product, called Prime 4.

State and federal authorities held a press conference to announce a $25 billion settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers, and provided key details on how the money was being distributed and the amounts each institution is expected to pay.