Government officials are likely to release large banks from some liability for how they handled delinquent Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages, as part of a settlement with the largest mortgage servicers, according to people briefed on the negotiations.

Bank of the Carolinas Corp. in Mocksville, N.C., said that its chief financial officer, Eric E. Rhodes, has resigned from the company.

Waccamaw Bankshares Inc.'s stock was delisted from the Nasdaq after the company said it could not complete its delinquent financial statements.

BNC Bancorp in Thomasville, N.C., announced Wednesday that it would close four of the 10 branches it inherited last month when it acquired the failed Blue Ridge Savings Bank of Asheville, N.C.

Mission Community Bank in San Luis Obispo, Calif., has named Tom L. Dobyns, a longtime California community banker, as its new chief executive.

In an unprecedented move, South Korea's telecommunication regulator is partnering with mobile-phone operators and card networks to test a near field communication-based mobile-payment system on the country's busiest shopping street.

Soon, even unbanked consumers can accept payment cards. Intuit plans to launch a prepaid card account that merchants may use to deposit sales made with its GoPayment device.

Fifth Third Bancorp accepted a cease-and-desist order from the Securities and Exchange Commission following an improper disclosure to investors, but was charged no penalty in the case because of its cooperation.

This month the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau held an invitation-only teleconference and issued a press release announcing its "Early Warning Notice," which would allow banks the opportunity to respond to findings by the CFPB before commencing enforcement actions.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and fellow U.S. policymakers may find themselves hampered in restoring financial stability should the European debt crisis spread to America.

Mary Lynn Lenz will lose her job as CEO of Professional Business Bank after it merges with another California bank. In the bank M&A world, that's a compliment. More opportunities await turnaround artists like her in deals-rich California.

Although it sports fees high enough to make Bank of America blush, this is no Kardashian Kard, the sponsor says.

Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday it has hired 280 new wealth-management advisers in Texas and Florida, doubling its overall number of advisers to more than 1,000 nationwide.

Big banks can win on price, but small banks say commercial lending is too attractive to give up on. Some community bankers are hunting for customers that bigger banks might discount and for loan officers displaced by M&A.

A group of retail trade groups allege that the central bank did not properly follow the instructions of Congress when it capped interchange fees at around 21 cents per transaction.

At the end of October, the Obama Administration announced changes to the Home Affordability Refinance Program that conceivably will make as many as 2 million more homeowners eligible for refinancing over the next two years. This will lower the default risk for the government sponsored entities and their ultimate backers, the American taxpayers, and should provide some level of economic stimulus.

There is always room to maneuver when a balance sheet number represents "management's best estimate."

As Dodd-Frank regulations come into focus, critics say they're complex to the point of being unworkable. Here's a simple solution.

WASHINGTON — A Tennessee bank owner must get prior Federal Reserve approval to pay dividends or increase debt.