The U.K. government said it will sell Northern Rock to Virgin Money for £747 million ($1.2 billion) cash, marking a major loss on its investment in the mortgage lender that became a symbol of the financial crisis.

In the first criminal case involving robo-signing of mortgage documents, Nevada's attorney general filed charges Wednesday against two people accused of filing tens of thousands of false documents.

The Treasury and the banking industry would like nothing better than to see more credit unions convert to taxpaying banks. This is hardly going to happen if CUs perceive the OCC as an inhospitable regulator of their mutual form.

NBT Bancorp Inc. in Norwich, N.Y., said late Wednesday that it will acquire Hampshire First Bank in Manchester, N.H.

PerkStreet Financial said Wednesday that it had named PayPal Inc. president Scott Thompson to its board.

Regulators are writing massive, complex rules that will be impossible to enforce. Editor at Large Barbara A. Rehm offers an alternative.

U.S. banks may get to spend some excess cash on loans or lines of business that European banks will seek to dump. Still, a cloud hangs over the outlook for bank M&A next year.

American Banker's editors discuss Wal-Mart's latest attempt to eat bankers' lunch.

Target's U.S. credit card segment churned out a $143 million third-quarter profit, up 10% from a year earlier. But it could be the unit's last such impressive quarter for a while, an executive warned on Wednesday.

Bank of the West in San Francisco is entering the Chicago area by opening a commercial banking office.

The Atlanta bank will let First Marblehead market and process all new student loans by next fall.

Card data security risks for online merchants or those operating payment schemes via cloud computing will get much attention next year from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.

The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said Wednesday that it worked with Google to suspend advertising for a slew of alleged online mortgage modification scams.

Anemic household expenditures this year heightened anxiety that the economy would stall out, but growth in spending on plastic has remained healthy. An increased appetite for big-ticket items among households that are surviving the malaise probably explains much of the phenomenon.

Charles Schwab Corp. has finalized its purchase of Compliance11 Inc., a Chicago firm that helps securities and investment firms manage their compliance with regulations.

A pair of healthy banks destined to be partners are nearing deadline as investors anxiously wait.

Cor blimey, IT jobs are heading over the pond.

The name of Visa Inc.'s digital wallet understates its ambition for the service. That may turn out to be a smart branding move.

It's time for our regulators to think broadly about what our financial system needs and then take a stand. Simply grinding out Dodd-Frank proposals that no one understands — like the risk-retention proposal and the Volcker Rule release — is not the answer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking students, colleges and lenders for information on the private student loan market that will inform a joint report to Congress required by the Dodd-Frank Act.