The Latest

Meta Financial Group in Sioux Falls, S.D., has promoted Cynthia Smith, its head of technology and operations, to chief operating officer.

Under pressure from regulators and consumer advocates, brick-and-mortar banks are now offering overdraft-free accounts. But online-only and community banks still have them beat as the type and number of fees associated with big-bank checking have multiplied.

"Smart Connection" aims to boost financial literacy in consumers between the ages of 18 and 25.

Credit unions in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas closed branches as a precaution, but no reports of major damage.

The sheer amount of data created in recent years has exploded, leaving banks with a tremendous amount of data sets to mine through. Community banks need to utilize analytics to stay competitive with their big-bank peers.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has named a new deputy comptroller in charge of leadership, executive and organizational development.

Banks, Wall Street critics and regulators are angling to define whether the leverage ratio should be a backstop or a binding constraint for the biggest banks – a debate that could be among the most urgent in the post-Obama regulatory landscape.

Mastercard and Visa have now each entered a détente with PayPal, agreeing that a highly competitive stance is not of much use if it makes it too hard for consumers to pay for things.

Moldovan CU representatives recently visited with colleagues in Idaho as part of an exchange program facilitated by the World Council of Credit Unions.