Despite an overall lack of optimism about the U.S. economy, small-business owners are growingly increasingly more confident that sales at their own firms will pick up this quarter, according to a survey released Thursday by TD Bank.

To succeed this year, banks must balance the near-term need to make loans and the long-term reality that an exodus of low-cost deposits is looming.

Mortgage securitization blew up the home price bubble and detonated the financial crisis. How?

Under orders from its regulator to improve its capital ratios, Community First Bank & Trust in Columbia, Tenn., is selling one of its 10 branches to Southern Community Bank in Tullahoma, Tenn., and could be looking to unload several more.

Despite new threats of legal challenges or hopes for structural changes, this agency cannot be wished away. But banks can still influence the size and nature of the role the CFPB will play.

Analysts' failure to foresee declining earnings per share for the biggest banks last year hasn't stopped them from predicting an even bigger profit surge for 2012.

Clemson football fans like to er, decorate, $2 bills with the logo of their beloved Tigers, but South Carolina bankers say the shift to electronic payments and other factors (don't mention this week's Orange Bowl score) could stamp out the show of loyalty.

Prepaid debit cards that come with celebrity endorsements over the years have showed little staying power while whipping up storm clouds of controversy.

Fifth Third Bancorp told investors Thursday that its fourth-quarter income would be roughly $68 million lower than anticipated, before taxes, due to costs related to its sale of Visa Inc. class B shares in 2009.

Richard Cordray, the bureau's first director, said Thursday that the CFPB will begin exercising its new authority to regulate nonbanks starting today, despite doubts from the industry about its authority.

An Atlanta area couple, after waiting weeks for their home loan to close, posted a humorous — and scathing — YouTube video that targeted the lender, Bank of America Corp. The video prompted a rapid response from B of A, including reimbursement of some seller fees.

Consumers are paying down their debts across an increasing number of loan categories, according to the American Bankers Association. That was a welcome reversal for the banking industry, which in the second quarter saw the ABA report an uptick in delinquencies.

WASHINGTON — While all eyes were on the recess appointment of its first director Wednesday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau quietly released guidance that directs supervised banks to turn over any and all information it requests.

When President Obama installed Richard Cordray as director of the CFPB through a recess appointment Wednesday, he set the stage for a legal showdown over the bureau's authority that could take years to resolve.

Presidential elections historically turn on the condition of the economy, and economic recovery has historically relied on a housing market recovery.

Commercial mortgages in the securitized secondary markets face some hurdles in 2012, but also some opportunities.

Customers might think banks are giving them great deals when they’re actually getting ripped off. Upfront charges, however annoying, are far preferable to hidden costs.

Although doing so carries legal risks for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Barack Obama's decision to recess appoint Richard Cordray to head the new agency was all about politics.

PHH Corp., the largest non-bank lender, abruptly replaced chief executive officer Jerome Selitto with chief operating officer Glen A. Messina on Wednesday, weeks after a failed bond offering and an S&P downgrade.

BankAtlantic Bancorp's hopes to move forward with its planned sale without the interference of its debt holders have been squashed by a Delaware judge.