B. Riley & Co. analyst Rich Eckert thinks the government "should get out of the way" of the housing market, and discussing the potential effects of mortgage refinancing programs.

Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, who has sold most of the company's holdings in European sovereign debt, said Berkshire isn't interested in helping to bail out lenders on the continent.

Fifth Third officials and debt-busting radio personality Dave Ramsey talk about how they scoped each other out before working together to teach kids how to dodge financial trouble.

HSBC Holdings PLC is moving ahead with the sale of its general insurance business and has approached potential buyers in Europe and Asia, a person familiar the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in San Juan has completed a deal to sell roughly $358 million of mostly nonperforming commercial real estate and construction loans to a joint venture created by Goldman Sachs & Co., Caribbean Property Group LLC and East Rock Capital LLC.

Banco Santander SA Chairman Emilio Botin on Friday declared a moratorium on big acquisitions.

The biggest outside investor in Cardinal Bankshares has ramped up his fight against the company, creating a website and calling on shareholders to force management to sell.

"In financial ecosystems, evolutionary forces have often been survival of the fattest rather than the fittest." So says Andrew Haldane, Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England. He is right.

Irene Dorner, president and chief executive of HSBC's U.S. bank, is looking beyond the sales of her credit cards business and 195 upstate New York branches and planning to expand HSBC's operations in California and the West Coast.

HSBC Holdings PLC has approached a number of European and Japanese insurers regarding a possible sale of its global general insurance business, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.

BB&T took a back seat to the more acquisitive Wells Fargo during the downturn. No more.

TMG Financial Services’ acquisition this month of the $16 million credit card portfolio of Warren, Mich.-based Extra Credit Union provides evidence that a resurgence in card-portfolio sales is taking place, one observer suggests.

ECB Bancorp is set to receive nearly $80 million in capital by mid-November. The $942 million-asset company is laying out a three-pronged strategy of acquisitions, de novo branch expansion and organic growth to get to $3 billion to $5 billion in the next few years.

Jefferson Bancshares Inc. of Morristown, Tenn., restated its last quarter as a loss after its take on bad investments and loans worsened.

Cascade Bancorp in Bend, Ore., has agreed to sell about $108 million of loans, generating $58 million in proceeds in an effort to remain well capitalized.

Private equity investor Christopher Flowers quibbled with some facts in "Too Big to Fail" but not its choice of actor to portray him.

ACI Worldwide has extended its exchange offer for shares of S1 until Oct. 31. The offer, which has a blended value of $9.44 per share, was set to expire Sept. 28.

The acquisition of ISU Stetson-Beemer was Wells' fifth deal for an insurance firm since last fall.

U.K. entrepreneur Hugh Osmond's Sun Capital Partners remains interested in buying the retail branch network being sold by Lloyds Banking Group, but outstanding issues with the business still need to be resolved, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

F&M Bancorporation Inc. in Tulsa, Okla., has raised $78 million in capital that it plans to use for expansion in Oklahoma and Texas.