Security Savings Bank in Southport, N.C., said that it has hired an Atlanta firm to help it explore strategic option, including a possible sale.

Fiserv says final interchange regulations should free up technology spending by banks later this year.

Jim Grant discusses public policy and industry consolidation.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. in San Antonio reported that second-quarter earnings rose 5.3% from a year earlier, to $55.7 million, although the company struggled to capitalize on a windfall of excessive liquidity.

Michelle Korsmo will become the new chief executive of the American Land Title Association, replacing Kurt Pfotenhauer, who is leaving at the end of the month to become executive vice president and vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Co.

Mortgage application volume declined for the fifth time in the last six weeks, this time by 5% for the week ended July 22, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Equifax finds the credit cycle has turned as new credit growth continues. Several portfolio metrics indicate the credit cycle is moving to stabilization and growth.

Amex hired a former Google exec to run a joint venture with French e-commerce website vente-privee.com, offering deals on luxury goods to U.S. customers.

The new application offers personal financial management tools and a look at how other customers with a similar profile are spending their money.

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Revenue from electronic channels supported by The Western Union Co., including westernunion.com, account-based funds transfers and mobile funds transfers, grew by more than 35% during the second quarter, the company said in announcing its earnings for the period.

After striking two deals around Kansas City, Mo., last year, Laney, the Boston-based president and chief executive of NBH Holdings Corp., has moved on to Colorado, buying the $1 billion-asset Bank of Choice in Greeley on Friday in a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Cornerstone Mortgage Co. on Tuesday said it will comply with a consent order issued by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and pay $90,000 in penalties to resolve claims that the Houston-based nonbank lender allowed unlicensed loan officers to originate loans.

Wells Fargo & Co. has named Avid Modjtabai the head of its restructured consumer lending organization.

In attempting to prevent abuses of the interchange cap exemption for reloadable prepaid cards, the Fed may have inadvertently scuttled an opportunity for banks to serve low-balance account holders.

Trustmark Corp. in Jackson, Miss., said Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings jumped 21% from the same period last year, to $31.6 million.

Citing improving economic conditions, TSYS reported a 3.9% increase in second-quarter revenue. Its net income rose 4%.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley told the state's Register of Deeds Association that she will not sign a multistate settlement with large mortgage servicers that includes a widespread release of liability for claims against the Mortgage Electronic Registry Systems.

FinCEN's final rule to prevent prepaid accounts from being used to launder money attempts to balance the concerns of many parties.

Fiserv's revenue rose 4.2% as it sold more of its bill payment and account processing software to banks.