Many private-equity firms hoped to capitalize on the financial crisis through two waves of bank investments. The first, in 2007-8, focused on large investments in major banks. These disappointing investments were too early as industry conditions worsened dragging down these investments.

Richard Hendrix, the president and CEO of FBR & Co., says that earnings and price expectations must "reset" for capital to come back to banks. In a wide-ranging Q&A, he discussed bankers' reluctant to tap capital markets and his belief that it could take time before a meaningful level of IPOs take place.

To create a mobile banking offering that can compete with banks or the likes of Google, the prepaid card marketer Green Dot is purchasing the location-based deals company Loopt.

The prepaid card marketer Green Dot said Friday that it agreed to buy the location-based deals company Loopt.

Three years ago, the Seattle bank was struggling mightily with bad loans and diminishing capital. A recently completed IPO put $96 million back into the bank, putting it on the path to recovery.

FDIC objected to private equity deal involving Prosperity Bank Co. in St. Augustine, Fla., sources said. It had served as a model for a good bank/bad bank deal involving BankAtlantic that a judge recently blocked.

Discover Financial Services has signed a deal with the National Payments Corporation of India, in the credit card company's latest effort to increase card acceptance abroad by teaming up with local networks.

Joseph Stilwell is trying to gain seats on the mutual holding company's board with the solitary goal of getting the management team to sell.

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office sued two divisions of Encore Capital Group, claiming the firms participated in fraudulent collections and used false affidavits in lawsuits.

First Citizens BancShares Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., reported only modest earnings growth in 2011 as income gains from failed-bank acquisitions were largely offset by higher loss provisions related to loans it inherited in those deals.

Cloud-based compliance and data-security provider Trustwave soon will add Web security to its portfolio through the acquisition of M86 Security, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of advanced antimalware technology.

Cadence Bancorp's offer of 2.4 times tangible book value for Houston's Encore Bancshares has revived hopes that the M&A is coming back.

There are several factors that Bank of America's managers must have known when they recently started testing a new fee schedule for consumers.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department said Wednesday it is selling $6 billion of its common stock in American International Group, half of which AIG intends to buy itself at the initial public offering price.

First California Financial Group Inc. in Westlake Village, Calif., has partnered with another company to provide tax refunds on prepaid cards.

Tom Brouster, hired last week as a consultant to Reliance Bancshares, has a track record of turning around struggling banks. Brouster, who declined to outline a specific strategy for the St. Louis-area company, said in an interview Tuesday that selling is always an option in banking.

Visa Europe plans to acquire a 15% minority stake in mobile retail payments provider Mobile Money Network Ltd., the European payment system provider announced March 7.

Shareholders of Mainline Bancorp Inc. in Ebensbug, Pa., have approved the company's sale to S&T Bancorp Inc.

Encore Bancshares in Houston had a three-year plan for independence before an offer from Cadence Bancorp provided shareholders with the same value … immediately.

NCO Group, an accounts receivable management giant based in Horsham, Pa., has notified North Carolina government officials that it plans to close a call center in Guilford County, N.C. and lay off 685 workers in the coming months. The Guilford call center is part of NCO's customer marketing and sales division.