California

Citigroup Inc. (C) is seeking bidders for about 50 branches holding $3 billion in California as the third-largest U.S. lender pares brick-and-mortar outlets, said three people involved in the process.

SAN DIEGO — A thief used his cell phone to rob a credit union here late last week.

Consumers can now use Lending Club to pay for schooling or elective medical procedures.

Compliance software vendor Strevus is adding support for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to its products.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — CO-OP Financial Services has entered into an agreement with Visa to make the Visa EMV common debit solution available to its credit union clients.

Westamerica Bancorp. (WABC) in San Rafael, Calif., reported a dip in profits because of fewer customer transactions and a decline in loan revenue.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — CO-OP Financial Services announced today that it delivered a shareholder dividend of $30.5 million for fiscal year 2013, a 17% increase from the previous year.

Two former executives of Sonoma Valley Bank have been indicted for their alleged involvement in a $9.5 million fraud scheme.

BofI Holding (BOFI) in San Diego has agreed to buy certain assets and all the deposits of H&R Block Bank.

How are CUSOs helping credit unions and their members?

Two of the largest credit union service organizations, both based in California, report that business is good, despite numerous financial and regulatory challenges.

SAN DIEGO — A new credit union service organization is helping credit unions collect on charged-off accounts and return "prior prime" members to their former CUs.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Credit unions frequently cite compliance as one of their biggest burdens. And now, so are credit union service organizations.

SAN DIEGO — Class action lawsuits related to Target Corp.'s massive data breach will be consolidated in the retailer's home state of Minnesota.

Popular (BPOP) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, could be looking to sell its banking operations in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has launched an initial public offering that could yield as much as $223 million for the company and its shareholders.

Ellie Mae, the mortgage technology vendor, confirmed late Tuesday that its recent outages, which have forced lenders to delay loan closings, resulted from a flood of service requests "characteristic of a distributed denial of service" attack.

ONTARIO, Calif. — To help credit unions build their auto-lending portfolios in an increasingly competitive marketplace, CU Direct has formed the North American Automotive Marketing Council.

The Los Angeles companies said Tuesday that the Federal Reserve Board has approved the $2.3 billion deal.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA issued its prohibition orders for the month of March on Monday, this time barring only one person from participating in the affairs of any federally insured financial institution.