General Electric is considering spinning off parts of its finance unit through an initial public offering as Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt works to shrink the business.

Mortgage processor Lender Processing Services is reportedly in talks to be acquired by title insurer Fidelity National Financial and private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners in a $2.9 billion deal.

Private-equity groups are looking to cash out their bank holdings given the bullish stock market and bearish outlook for banking. But few will double their money like Warburg Pincus did with its investment in Webster Financial.

Flagstar Bancorp, the Michigan lender rescued by MatlinPatterson Global Advisers in 2009, is considering a sale of the collection rights on more than $70 billion in mortgages, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A growing number of community banks are hiring consultants to negotiate core processing and IT-service contracts, which are typically among a bank's biggest expenses.

Ron Swanner, the head of South Street Financial, had talking points for every query at a tense annual meeting this week — except for, "where's the dessert?"

Regulators usually shut down banks on Friday nights to minimize disruption. However, no rule says failures have to occur on the sixth day of the week. Here is a look, in pictures, at noteworthy seizures on days other than Friday.

Commerce Bank founder Vernon Hill has lost his bid to collect more than $17 million in back pay from Toronto-Dominion Bank, which bought Commerce in 2007.

Shareholders at HopFed Bancorp have elected a director nominated by a critic of the Hopkinsville, Ky., company's latest acquisition deal.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf said that he believes the government-sponsored enterprises need to be retained in some form because the guarantee they provide is important to investors.

Now that shareholders have agreed to let Jamie Dimon keep both his jobs at JPMorgan Chase, the chairman and chief executive must resolve several pressing issues. Among them: succession, board composition and mounting regulatory scrutiny.

Gries Investment Fund, a Florida investment group, has canceled plans to buy Southern Commerce Bank in Tampa, according to a newspaper report.

Only 32% of JPMorgan Chase shareholders voted in favor of splitting Jamie Dimon's chairman and chief executive roles, but the victory can't erase the months of harsh scrutiny over Dimon's power and the bank's governance.

Smaller banks may decide now is a good time to go public and raise capital for acquisitions and other growth opportunities.

Two bank deals, one in New Jersey and the other in California, have won regulatory approval and are nearing completion.

Like Jamie Dimon, a number of bank leaders have been in fights to keep their chairmanships from being lopped off in recent years. Many lost, and a few survived—but it's rarely pretty.

Mark Jaindl, a Pennsylvania banker, fell less than 100,000 short of shaking up the board at the parent of Home Savings Bank.

Genesys, a provider of customer engagement and contact center services, has announced plans to acquire SoundBite Communications for a price of $5.00 per share.

Organic growth, dealmaking and innovation are taking a backseat to compliance, bank executives told KPMG in a new survey.

The activist investor claims that D.F. King failed to turn in a master ballot, causing his board candidate to lose an election.