New York

CMS Bancorp in White Plains, N.Y., is working through a material weakness unearthed by a recent audit.

Ten financial institutions, including four banks, will accept the new IDNYC card as a primary form of identification for new accounts. Community advocates hope the move will help more immigrants and unbanked individuals use banking products.

American Capital Partners has recruited two Raymond James analysts to launch a research unit focused on small and mid-cap banks in the New York area.

Former Rep. Bill Owens has been named a director of Arrow Financial in Glen Falls, N.Y.

Numerous banks are expected to say they trimmed expenses yet again when they report fourth-quarter results in the coming weeks. But that trend may ebb soon as many executives are forced to spend on technology and to expand their businesses.

Nationwide the number of bank branches fell by about 1.7% last year. But some cities and states were hit harder than others, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and research firm BankRegData.

Government investigations of auto lending are beginning to pile up, and they are weighing on investors' perceptions of the fast-growing industry.

A San Diego-based debt collector has agreed to pay $675,000 in civil penalties and give up $18 million won in court fights against 4,500 consumers, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday.

NEW YORK — Coopera, a credit union consultant for the Hispanic market, and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, are teaming up on a program to extend credit union products and services to the widely unbanked and under-banked Hispanic immigrant community.

Ocwen Financial, operating under a settlement with New York's banking regulator that restricts its servicing portfolio acquisitions, is looking at its old private-label mortgage securities as a new profit center.

Tompkins Financial in Ithaca, N.Y., will soon have a new leader for its Bank of Castile.

Valley National in Wayne, N.J., will use proceeds from a branch sale in New York City to offset costs tied to prepaying debt.

Jack Kopnisky of Sterling Bancorp in New York, which completed a major acquisition last year and has another in the works, is close to reaching his goal of creating a top earner. That effort, and the risks associated with it, make Kopnisky one of American Banker’s five community bankers to watch in 2015.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Empower FCU here has awarded a $2.5 million "giveback" to members in bonus dividends and interest rates in celebration of another successful year.

The subsidiary of Chemung Financial in Elmira, N.Y., has sold its equity securities portfolio.

Ocwen Financial has agreed to pay $150 million to New York regulators to settle allegations that it fudged foreclosure documents and said Monday that its founder and, executive chairman, William Erbey is stepping down after 30 years with the Atlanta company.

Empire Bancorp in Islandia, N.Y., has raised $20 million in a private placement.

The layoffs will take place across the $38 billion-asset bank's four-state service area in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut, a spokesman for the bank confirmed.

The former Astoria chief, who died Sunday, took Astoria from a sleepy mutual to the fifth-biggest publicly traded thrift in New York. Engelke was also know for freely speaking his mind while maintaining strong relationships with fellow bankers.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law legislation allowing state-chartered credit unions to combine select employer groups, associational and community groups into a single field of membership at the same time, according to the New York Credit Union Association (NYCUA).