The Treasury Department has ordered board appointments to two banking companies that have missed dividend payments on its bailout investments.

BillMyParents says the former marketing executive of the publisher of the Guitar Hero games is running its marketing operations.

The Small Business Jobs Act set aside a $30 billion fund designed for smaller banks to lend to small business owners when it passed last September.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. said Thursday that second quarter net earnings rose 32%, to $8.3 million, compared with a year earlier after it slashed its provision by 80%.

Retailers will have better results observing customer behavior and basing their sales strategy upon that evidence than if they try to stay ahead of the curve by predicting what consumers want or will want in the future.

Banner gained $1.9 million from fair value adjustments on certain financial instruments, which played a key role in its quarterly profit of $224,000.

PNC is encouraging card customers to link to Virtual Wallet to access more security alerts.

Shares of Astoria Financial Corp. were down in heavy trading Thursday after the Lake Success, N.Y., company reported second-quarter earnings that fell well short of analysts' estimates.

Fair Isaac says systems it developed with Postbank have helped reduce fraud on consumer loans.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in Buffalo said Tuesday that its second-quarter net income fell 32.3% from the same period last year, to $13.6 million, primarily on costs related to its $1.5 billion acquisition of NewAlliance Bancshares and other items.

Hanmi Financial Corp. in Los Angeles remained in the black for the third consecutive quarter, posting an $8 million profit in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $29 million in last year's second quarter.

New York Community Bancorp said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings fell 9% from the same period last year, to $119.5 million, as a surge of originations in multi-family loans could not offset a sharp decline in mortgage income.

BB&T echoed other large regional banks in reporting a second-quarter profit surge due to better loan performance.

Fifth Third Bancorp's second-quarter profit soared 76% as the regional lender benefited from improving credit conditions and lower loan-loss provisions than a year earlier.

Huntington Bancshares Inc.'s second-quarter earnings surged absent prior-year charges and as the regional bank reported that its provisions for potential loan losses fell to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2007.

Improved asset quality and upticks in its commercial and mortgage lending helped Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Chicago narrow its loss in the second quarter.

Worldwide mobile payment users will surpass 141.1 million in 2011, a 38.2 percent increase from 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million.

The current fee structure has encouraged an unhealthy concentration of servicing at the megabanks, argues Stanford L. Kurland of PennyMac. The business must open up to specialty players better equipped to handle distressed loans.

Average cardholder spending increases 15% to $3,767 during the second quarter.