Chemical Financial Corp. in Midland, Mich., reported that its fourth-quarter profit rose 49% from a year earlier, to $11.2 million, because a lower loan-loss provision.

Tennessee has managed to escape the downturn relatively unscathed, and hasn't had a bank fail since 2002. But a new crop of undercapitalized banks and other strugglers have put 10% of the state's banks at some risk of failure.

Cash and traditional cards are entrenched. Without rewards, the digital wallets are unlikely to make a dent.

Voice biometrics has had its share of starts and stops as an anti-fraud and authentication tool in the past decade. But a person's voice has more than 100 unique characteristics, compared with only 40 for a fingerprint, so the technology has strong potential for data security.

Columbia Banking System Inc. in Tacoma, Wash., and an aggressive buyer of failed banks, rode those acquisitions to a strong fourth quarter.

Cambridge Savings Bank joins forces with a theater ensemble to find new ways to get financial education messages across to young children.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The NCUA Board this morning approved the proposed merger of Tennessee's Volunteer Corporate CU with West Virginia Corporate CU, accelerating the pace of the corporate restructuring.

Brookline Bancorp Inc.'s fourth-quarter and full-year results rose despite costs associated with acquisitions.

MasterCard said Wednesday that it is testing a mobile payments system in Australia that lets the user choose whether to use a bar code or an embedded payment chip.

Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., announced that fourth quarter earnings fell after several special charges.

The core banking giant joins a crowded contactless payment market that already includes Google, telecoms and the Wells Fargo/Bank of America/Chase led ClearXchange venture. Its breadth of clients and solution will pressure non-bank and NFC-based ventures.

Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane, Wash., returned to the black for the year as credit quality improved.

The Ithaca, N.Y., bank has been scouting for deals and said Thursday it has agreed to buy VIST Financial in southeastern Pennsylvania for $86 million in stock.

Green Dot said Thursday that it is working with the AARP Foundation to issue a MasterCard-branded prepaid card in mid-February.

UniRush said Thursday that it is eliminating a string of fees for its reloadable prepaid RushCard and also launching a new pricing plan for customers.

United Community Banks Inc. of Blairsville, Ga. is back in the black — again.

New Resource Bank in San Francisco said Thursday that it had raised $7.7 million through a private placement.

The $733 million-asset company said in a press release that Philip Brothman will not seek reelection as chairman of Evans or unit Evans Bank when shareholders meet in April.

The St. Louis company will restate almost two years' worth of earnings after finding an error tied to loss-sharing agreements for failed-bank deals.

MovenBank plans to be a mobile bank for the smartphone age. But perhaps more intriguing, it will use social media data to inform its credit decisions and to determine pricing.