The Sunshine State is once again outgrowing the rest of the country and some of its community banks are eager to become the state’s next flagship. Florida has changed a lot since the old Barnett Bank held that title, and so has banking. But now its thriving homegrown contenders aim to reshape the fragmented banking landscape, which is dominated by out-of-state rivals.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is increasingly brandishing a post-crisis tool allowing it to label activities "abusive," but whether financial services firms are closer to understanding the term is still up for debate.

First BanCorp in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has agreed to sell about $200 million in nonperforming loans and other assets to improve credit quality.

The Dallas investment group completed its tender offer for Mechanics Bank last month, culminating a three-year hunt for a target to serve as the base of its roll-up strategy. With that piece in place, the company is looking to buy other banks in northern California

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning to issue rules to supervise large installment and vehicle title lenders, according to a recent report.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta reached an agreement to end its loss-share agreements for 12 failed banks that it acquired during the financial crisis.

At a time when regulators, prosecutors and the media have stepped up their scrutiny of subprime auto lending, some in the industry have changed their definitions of key terms in ways that downplay the risks involved.

In the wake of recent court rulings upholding homeowners associations' "super lien" status in foreclosures, mortgage vendors have flooded the market with products to help servicers and investors manage this long-standing threat.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender by assets, agreed to buy Nordstrom's Visa and private-label credit-card portfolio in the U.S. as it expands purchases in North American consumer credit.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., agreed to expand mortgage lending in minority neighborhoods to settle a federal probe into its fair-housing loan practices.

The best-performing banks are those that continue to invest in growth, rather than those that fixate on containing expenses, writes Capital Performance Group's Kevin Halsey.

Wells Fargo has partnered with NCR to deploy an outdoor, full-service ATM designed to provide consumers extra transaction options in nontraditional locales.

Higher loan demand is helping banks and thrifts with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets improve their profitability. Of the 191 institutions that qualified for our mid-tier ranking this year, 40% posted a three-year average return on equity in the double digits, up from 34% in our previous ranking.

A federal appeals court decision Friday allows a lawsuit involving interest rates in debt collection cases to move forward as a class action.

Hundreds of lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle are pushing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to grant a grace period for banks, credit unions and other lenders to comply with a new mortgage disclosure rule.

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Exeter Financial has hired Freddie Mac executive Paige H. Wisdom to be its chief financial officer.