Under orders to divest branches as a condition of its pending deal with HSBC Bank USA, First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in Buffalo announced early Thursday that it is selling more than three-dozen western New York branches to one of its closest competitors.

Washington Mutual on Wednesday moved a step closer to an exit from bankruptcy when a judge rebuffed a bid to hold up confirmation proceedings for the company's $7 billion Chapter 11 plan.

Regions Financial Corp. has entered into a long-awaited agreement to sell Morgan Keegan & Co. and related affiliates to Raymond James Financial Inc. for $930 million.

Kevin Cummings, the CEO at Investors Bancorp, is eager to buy more banks and thrifts as his New Jersey company seeks deposits to fund its growing commercial book.

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. in Lititz, Pa., said it expects to complete its acquisition of Tower Bancorp in Harrisburg, Pa., on Feb. 17 after securing regulatory approval.

Two small Kansas banks that have been fixtures in their rural communities for decades are planning to merge in a bid to improve efficiency and better contend with increasing compliance costs.

The Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) sector saw a significant jump in transaction value in 2011, according to a report by Greenberg Advisors. Aggregate transaction value totaled $1.54 billion, 27% more than 2010 and 163% greater than 2009.

Three months after putting its "forward" mortgage origination business on the block, MetLife announced Tuesday it had shut the operation down.

W. Edmund Clark, the president and chief executive of Toronto-Dominion Bank, on Tuesday said the down economy should not keep his Toronto-based bank from continuing to grow profits in the U.S.

Bill Downe pledges that the new BMO Harris, which combined Harris Bank and recently acquired M&I, will be a regional powerhouse despite M&I's loss of market share and other problems.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday disclosed a written agreement with Gold Canyon Bank in Gold Canyon, Arizona.

A federal arbitration panel has fined the brokerage firm Morgan Keegan & Co. for mishandling the account of an Atlanta charity.

Conventional investor wisdom has it that a majority of bank mergers don't realize their promised synergies— leaving both the banks and their investors disappointed. Yes, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of "in-market" mergers between two banks from the same country that did not live up to the hype.

Any thought that Visa Inc. was interested in merchant acquiring quickly dissipated last week, when the card network decided to sell an online merchant portfolio it inherited from a purchase two years ago to Global Payments.

Spanish banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argenteria said Tuesday that it expects to take a goodwill impairment charge of roughly $1.3 billion on its U.S. unit in the fourth quarter due to ongoing concerns about the pace of the economic recovery here.

The sluggish market for credit card portfolios may pick up this year, if card losses continue to abate and potential buyers stay on the path of rebuilding capital.

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CLO issuances will likely increase this year after tripling last year, but volatility in Europe and other macroeconomic issues present a big challenge.

Bankers are frustrated by lackluster earnings and low stock prices despite improving balance sheets. Many long for the return of pre-crisis earnings growth and pricing multiples. Some will be tempted to pursue increased earnings through misguided expansion strategies rather than returning excess capital to investors.

In the months before Bank of America Corp. acquired Countrywide Financial Corp., government officials exchanged emails discussing the beleaguered mortgage lender and rumors that it might collapse.