CEO James Smith invokes image of George Bailey in telling ABC World News With Diane Sawyer that Webster's mortgage modification program has paid off.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., has moved a step closer toward exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Continuing to bulk up in Texas through bite-sized deals, Independent Bank Group Inc. in McKinney said this week that it is buying the $155 million-asset I Bank Texas in Austin.

Online banking customers for King's Town Bank in Taipei, Taiwan, can now send and receive Western Union money transfers internationally.

In the realm of payment card data security, 2011 qualifies as the year in which "more" became a key term on many levels.

NB&T Financial Group Inc. in Wilmington, Ohio, said it expects fourth-quarter provision for loan losses to be "substantially" higher than it was last quarter due to a likely default on a loan to a single commercial customer that has $1 million balance.

For Bank of America, its recent decision to sell credit card assets says a lot about its need to focus. For other bankers, it says a lot about the opportunity to become buyers.

Federal regulators seem to be of two minds about the Community Reinvestment Act, a law with an explicit and limited congressional purpose of requiring each banking regulator "to use its authority when examining financial institutions, to encourage such institutions to help meet the credit needs of the local communities in which they are chartered consistent with the safe and sound operation of such institutions."

The Federal Housing Administration has suspended its antiflipping rules for another year to facilitate financing and sales of newly renovated foreclosed properties.

Home values across the country fell $700 billion in 2011, or 35% less than the $1.1 trillion that was lost in 2010, according to Zillow. The majority of estimated 2011 the losses occurred in the first half.

The serious delinquency rate on Federal Housing Administration loans rose a full percentage point over four months to 9.3% in November.

Uncertainty, competition and even attacks. In 2012, independent sales organizations face a year of danger and opportunity.

Bank Transfer Day was supposedly a shot across banking's bow — a warning of customer unrest, diminished trust and fee intolerance.

Broadway Financial Corp. in Los Angeles said Wednesday that it once again complies with Nasdaq listing requirements after filing its third-quarter earnings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

StellarOne Corp. in Charlottesville, Va., has repurchased the remaining $22.5 million in preferred stock it issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit against Citigroup Inc. will remain on hold while a federal appeals court considers whether to review a judge's rejection of a $285 million settlement in the case.

Banks trying to solve their checking account woes are going the way of the cable company and increasingly selling tiered and bundled packages of services.

A Virginia lawmaker is urging his colleagues in Richmond to consider creating a state-owned bank that would use deposits from residents and state agencies to lend to local businesses and stimulate economic growth.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hit the ground running in 2011, despite being hobbled by the lack of a permanent director, and enjoyed support from the industry for most of its early initiatives. That isn't likely to last next year, when observers expect it will take on a handful of controversial agenda items and begin using its enforcement powers.

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. in Lititz, Pa., is planning to eliminate nearly 350 jobs in Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to notices it filed with labor departments in both states this month.