California

Offices, apartment buildings and retail locations in Los Angeles face a tangle of difficulties as the smoke clears from January's wildfires. High on the list is inadequate insurance, a common problem in California.

As climate change causes more frequent disasters, more mortgages are at risk of going underwater. How can banks limit their exposure?

When a house is lost, so is much of the collateral on the mortgage. Here's how both lenders and homeowners can bounce back.

The three-year-old Newport Beach-based institution, which secured $500 million in investor pledges to acquire peers, says more dealmaking may be in the works.

For the first time since the Eaton Fire erupted more than a month ago, Altadena has a bank branch that's open for business.

Until last month, Altadena was a flourishing melting pot. Now, with thousands of houses burned and no functioning banks, residents wonder if it will ever be the same.

Banks and credit unions also extended financial relief to Californians affected by the fires, which have killed 28 people and burned thousands of homes.

The insurance market going into the Jan. 7 catastrophe already had been hit with non-renewals and cancellations -- and an overburdened state-supported insurance plan. A Morningstar analyst said the state insurance commissioner's reform strategy could have turned it around but now faces new obstacles.

High winds continue to impede firefighters' progress in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires.

Bankers are putting pre-established action plans for disaster recovery into motion as wildfires in Los Angeles sweep across the region.