Lenders are reporting stronger demand for commercial and private lending over the past two months, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board, continuing a trend of mild-to-moderate improvement in banking fundamentals in recent quarters.

t's no grace period, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is working placate lender fears of hasty enforcement of its new integrated disclosure rules.

MasterCard has formed an alliance with a Somalian bank to issue debit cards in the last African market aside from nations under sanctions where it wasn't present.

American Banker dug into its archives for photos of some of the most influential banking figures of the 20th century, from the regulators who managed the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis to the visionaries who created the modern megabank. Hungry for more? Check out our previous slideshow, "Blasts from America's Banking Past."

Regulators have made great strides in recent years in crafting responsible underwriting guidelines, developing servicing standards and eliminating products and practices to ensure long-term success for homeowners. But there is a debate as to how best to increase access to credit for qualified borrowers.

First United in Oakland, Md., has promoted Tonya Sturm to chief financial officer.

Community bankers are up in arms after one of the largest core processors told institutions it will likely raise costs because of a data collection effort undertaken by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Bay Banks of Virginia in Kilmarnock has issued $7 million in subordinated debt.

World Acceptance in Greenville, S.C., one of the largest providers of installment loans, said that its longtime chairman and chief executive will retire in September.

Washington Trust Bancorp in Westerly, R.I., has agreed to buy Halsey Associates, an investment advisory firm in New Haven, Conn.

Deals are still getting done in California, even though water issues continue to plague the state's economy. Still, buyers are finding themselves conducting more extensive due diligence to vet the markets and loan concentrations of targets.

More lenders of all types are taking an interest in factoring, or buying a company's receivables, as they fight for commercial clients. But the business is forbidding for new entrants: it's dominated by a handful of large companies, with intense competition from smaller nonbanks, and is closely tied to the volatile retail-sales market.

After a "landmark" first-quarter driven by mortgage origination gains, Flagstar Bancorp is counting on mortgage servicing and community banking to spur future growth.

JPMorgan Chase is eliminating voice mail for consumer-bank employees as part of a push by the biggest U.S. lender to trim $2 billion in annual expenses.

Pacific Commerce Bank in Los Angeles has promoted Gail Jensen-Bigknife to chief credit officer.

FICO discards incomplete and old credit history information for a good reason. The solution to today's credit-access problems is not to use this unreliable data but to turn to alternative data such as the payment of everyday bills.

Discover Financial Services in Riverwoods, Ill., said it will double cash rewards for certain customers for a limited period, its latest effort to battle with rival issuers for new business.

First Resource Bank in Exton, Pa., plans to raise $6 million through a combination of common stock and subordinated debt to raise funds to redeem most of its Small Business Lending Fund preferred shares.

Access to credit is too tight. But new credit-scoring models could increase the number of eligible borrowers in the U.S. without weakening today’s underwriting parameters.

A financing unit of General Electric has formed a partnership with payroll-services provider WEX to sell fuel cards to trucking companies.