Sterling Bancorp in Montebello, N.Y., has acquired payroll funding firm Damian Services Corp.

WSFS Financial in Wilmington, Del., has agreed to buy Alliance Bancorp Inc. of Pennsylvania in Broomall.

Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill., has agreed to buy Community Financial Shares in Wheaton, Ill.

Ocwen Financial Corp. recorded an additional $50 million expense tied to a settlement with New York’s financial regulator and expects to take a non-cash goodwill charge of as much as $420 million in the fourth quarter.

PacWest needed deposits to fuel its lending machine. Square 1 was drowning in liquidity. Similar deals could be in the works as low-cost deposits become more valuable in light of likely interest-rate increases.

A hedge fund is pressuring Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., to consider spinning off its health savings account division.

The U.S. Education Department, citing "inaccurate representations" to student-loan borrowers, will end debt-collection contracts with Navient and four other companies.

A Google executive has confirmed the company has established Android Pay, a previously rumored platform upon which developers can build payments into applications.

Home Bancorp in Lafayette, La., has converted from a federal savings bank to a national bank charter.

International remittances grew at a number of banks last year, according to new data, but anti-money-laundering rules may make the fee-based business too expensive to keep.

The Texas banker, who chaired the ICBA during the financial crisis, feels much better about the regulatory environment for smaller banks. She just wishes that interest rates would finally rise.

The lobbying group's agenda typically includes a general session featuring top regulators. But with the ICBA's Washington Policy Summit two months away, the group opted to steer the focus of its annual convention toward education.

Lawmakers reluctant to offer community banks regulatory relief should consider the empirical evidence of how Dodd-Frank has hurt small lenders — and listen to the federal and state bank regulators calling for changes.

Banco Santander named a new chief executive for its unit that serves as the holding company for its U.S. retail bank, Santander Bank, and its subprime auto lender, Santander Consumer USA Holdings.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., is looking to raise funds to exit the Small Business Lending Fund.

Debt buyer Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. will lay off 125 employees this spring. The firm's parent company, Encore Capital Group, disclosed the layoff plans this week in a required filing with the state.

The U.S. Department of Education's plan to end contracts with five collection agencies that allegedly provided wrong information to borrowers is expected to result in 400 lost jobs at one of the agencies.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta has acquired Boyett Agency to serve as the foundation for a new insurance division.

An overlooked issue in the plan to reform Federal Home Loan bank membership could inadvertently jeopardize the local focus of the system by allowing insurance companies to apply for membership in any of the 12 districts.

Costco has picked Visa as its new payment card network and Citigroup as the new issuer of its cobranded credit cards.