Federal banking regulators are preparing guidance to address issues if the debt ceiling is not raised before Aug. 2, while large bank CEOs are calling for action.

United Community Banks Inc. is finally back in the black after it unloaded scores of problem assets and raised $380 million of fresh capital.

Cards payments processor Heartland Payments System Inc. on Thursday said it expects its 2011 earnings to be higher than it previously forecasted after reporting a jump in second-quarter profit and sales.

Foreclosure activity decreased on a year-over-year basis in 178 out of the nation's 211 metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Eagle Bancorp Inc. in Bethesda, Md., has agreed to acquire Alliance Bankshares Corp. in Chantilly, Va.

JK Harris Co., a tax representation firm based in Charleston, S.C., will pay to settle claims by West Virginia's attorney general's office that it misled consumers about its tax-dispute resolution services.

IberiaBank Corp.'s shares plunged Wednesday after a litany of charges cut into the banking company's second quarter earnings.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. returned to profitability in the second quarter due largely to its 19-branch sale to PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. in Chula Vista, Calif., said Wednesday that it raised an additional $542,500 from a common stock offering after its underwriters exercised a small portion of an overallotment option.

Don Adam’s American Momentum shifts from building to buying in Sunshine State.

In an overdraft class action, plaintiffs' attorneys moved to unseal records in the case. This move could prompt greater public scrutiny of banks' motives.

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PNC's purchase of two dozen Flagstar branches in Atlanta illustrates how the market for asset divestitures may be thawing as whole-bank transactions remain frozen.

Visa's fiscal third-quarter net income rose 40.4% due partly to a gain from the revaluation of a deal with Visa Europe.

United Federal Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich., has agreed to buy Griffith Savings Bank.

Servicers get reimbursed for advances when a loan is modified or the home goes into foreclosure. This may help explain why Ocwen's program is specifically aimed at borrowers who've defaulted.

UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., reported earnings of $26.3 million, up 14.4%, as credit costs fell and noninterest income jumped.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill, said Wednesday that second-quarter earnings fell 10% from a year earlier, to $11.8 million.

FirstAtlantic Bank said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy CenterBank in a deal that will combine two Jacksonville, Fla., banks.

A federal regulator on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against UBS AG, asserting that the investment bank made false statements when selling $4.5 billion in mortgage-backed securities to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.