Increases in initial public offerings would normally benefit banks, but a recent surge in IPO activity is instead threatening to further shrink lenders' balance sheets.

Western Union Co. has struck a deal that will make it a competitor, and also a potential partner, for banks trying to capture a bigger chunk of the business payments market.

Citing alleged conflicts of interest in the negotiation of the deal, an investor in two mortgage-backed securities trusts has sought to exempt itself from the $8.5 billion deal and to force a deeper review of Countrywide's practices.

Sandler O'Neill investment banker Emmett J. Daly shares his outlook on bank mergers in an interview with American Banker.

Linda Nahra, the president and chief executive at Community West Bancshares in Goleta, Calif., has notified the company that she is stepping down at the end of the month to pursue another business opportunity.

As she departs as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after a historic period of financial tumult and regulatory reform, Sheila Bair wishes more regulators felt empowered to be candid with the public about their views, even if they rock the boat.

Discover Financial Services' stock price fell as much as 3% on Friday after the company disclosed that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is reviewing its marketing of payment protection and other fee-based products.

Glen A. Messina is the new chief operating officer at PHH Corp. in Mount Laurel, N.J., where he will oversee, among other things, the operations of PHH Mortgage.

Private National Mortgage Acceptance Corp. plans to make a big splash in warehouse lending and late last week unveiled the leader of the effort: Paul Szymanski, once a top warehouse executive at the No. 1 player in that niche, Bank of America.

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El Paso offers a microcosm of the banking industry, showing how banks operating side by side can diverge dramatically based on daily choices.

President Obama announced Friday he intends to nominate Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. director Tom Curry, a former state regulator, for the top job at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Raymond James Bank in St. Petersburg, Fla., is acquiring a $650 million loan portfolio from Allied Irish Bank's Canadian operation in Toronto.

American Express Co. is expanding its prepaid payments business through a partnership with CardSmith LLC, which develops and manages campus ID card programs for colleges.

The bank on Friday said it was extending premier checking account benefits typically reserved for its elite customers to active-duty members of the armed forces, along with members of the National Guard and reserves.

Warehouse credit for nonbank borrowers is probably the most plentiful it's been since the financial markets crashed three years ago, as banks large and small have waded into the sector.

ECB Bancorp Inc. in Englehard, N.C., is planning to raise $75 million in a private stock offering and intends to use a portion of the funds to exit the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Park National in Newark, Ohio, will take a higher-than-expected provision for loan losses in the second quarter due to continued credit problems at its Florida banking subsidiary.