A Northern Michigan gas station redesigned the payment process around drivers' IDs to deter dishonest motorists that were driving off without paying for their gas.

Synovus Financial Corp. President and Chief Executive Kessel D. Stelling will take on the additional title of chairman when Richard E. Anthony steps down from the position on Jan. 1.

First American Bank Corp. in Elk Grove Village, Ill., has repaid $15 million of the $50 million it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program with funds it raised in a recent stock sale.

The average checking account costs banks about $350 annually. American Banker editors break down the costs.

Federal pressure to repay Tarp aid is weighing on the minds of prospective sellers, SCBT's Hill and others say.

"I'm not sitting here being cautious awaiting some confirmation hearing," the acting director says. "I'm going ahead and doing this the way I think the law frames it."

The wide disparity in valuations is driving the less desperate of would-be sellers to wait for a less volatile environment.

Desperate to purge their books of foreclosures, and tempted by the high price of agricultural land, some bankers and consultants predict an oncoming wave of community banks selling abandoned residential developments to buyers intent on converting the lots to farm land.

Flush with capital after raising roughly $1.1 billion in a stock sale late last year, Capitol Federal Financial Inc. in Topeka, Kan., now plans to deploy some of that capital by repurchasing up to 10% of its shares.

MutualBank in Muncie, Ind., has received regulatory approval to convert from a federal savings bank to a state commercial bank.

eBay's acquisition of BillSafe, which lets shoppers pay for purchases only after they receive a mailed invoice, shows its commitment to the instant-credit model. But observers warn that this model requires finely-tuned risk management to guard against fraud or excess delinquencies.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., said Thursday that it paid $900,000 to repurchase a warrant it had issued to the Treasury Department as part of its participation in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

E*Trade Financial Corp. and its insurers have agreed to pay $79 million to settle a class-action suit brought by investors over losses in its mortgage and home-equity loan portfolios.

ESSA Bancorp Inc. in Stroudsburg, Pa., announced early Thursday that it is buying the $421 million-asset First Star Bancorp Inc. in Bethlehem, Pa., for $24.2 million in cash and stock.

While banks are in varying stages of readiness for compliance, the FFIEC's guidance has affected smaller and regional banks disproportionately. Many must cobble together security systems from multiple vendors to make the grade.

The California attorney general's lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raises questions about preemption and the FHFA's authority, but seems unlikely to produce revelations about foreclosures.

Residential loan applications fell by almost 3% for the week that ended Dec. 16, despite continued historically low rates, according to figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

New Century Bancorp in Dunn, N.C., has agreed to sell two of its branches to Lumbee Guaranty Bank in Pembroke, N.C.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. – America’s CU has relocated its Lacey branch into a former Citizens Bank office.

BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., has agreed to buy KeySource Financial Inc. in Durham, N.C., in an all-stock deal valued at $12.2 million.