The District of Columbia council passed the Payday Loan Consumer Protection Act of 2007 Tuesday in a vote of 12 to 1.

FNB United Corp. in Asheboro, N.C., said Tuesday that it had sold its $4 million credit card portfolio to Elan Financial Services, a division of U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis.

Banks that target minority groups, particularly Hispanics and Asian-Americans, are reporting asset growth well above the industry average, largely because of an influx of immigrants.

The American Bankers Association has formed a task force to address what it says are mounting challenges to the banking industry's role in the payments system.

The Credit Union Journal

Three days after announcing that it lost $31.9 million last quarter, Integrity Bancshares of Alpharetta, Ga., said Monday that it has hired former banking regulator Patrick M. Frawley as its president and chief executive officer.

A group of shareholders and directors at FNB Corp. in Christiansburg, Va., are urging fellow shareholders to reject its proposed merger with Virginia Financial Group Inc. in Culpepper.

OmniAmerican Bank of Fort Worth said it will trim overhead by laying off 35 employees, or about 8% of its work force.

America's Community Bankers' board of directors voted unanimously Friday to merge with the American Bankers Association.

CapitalSource Inc.'s agreement to buy a Nebraska thrift is proceeding as planned, even though a sharp drop in the buyer's stock price over the summer would significantly lower the deal's value.

Integra Bank Corp. of Evansville, Ind., is planning to bulk up in the Cincinnati area and increase its assets by more than a third - and it plans to do so on the cheap.

When Green Bancorp was founded in 2005, its organizers said that the name was chosen because green is the color of money.

Two Iowa banking companies announced Wednesday that they plan to merge to better compete against giants such as Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp.

No more free pizza for California college students who sign up for credit cards.

NEW ENGLAND

Joseph T. Moss Jr. has resigned as president and chief operating officer of Appalachian Bancshares Inc. in Ellijay, Ga.

Wilmington Trust Corp. is looking to broaden its commercial banking network in the mid-Atlantic region, but its chairman and chief executive, Ted Cecala, said that it would do so organically, not through acquisitions.

Scottsdale, Ariz., is home to some of the nation's wealthiest families and individuals, and community banks there are trying to outdo one another to win those customers.

Joining a growing list of community banks, First Ipswich Bancorp in Ipswich, Mass., said Tuesday that it plans to go private so that it can reduce regulatory expenses and improve profitability.