Balances on new cards are still below levels reported before the 2008 recession, despite an increase in open accounts.

Allowing branch workers to come up with handmade signs and offbeat contests can help banks increase both customer and employee engagement, according to consultant Dave Martin.

The federal government should stop paying private collection agencies to pursue defaulted student loans, according to a report released Wednesday.

Citigroup has agreed to sell its remaining 41 branches in Texas to BB&T, in an ongoing effort to trim its branch network.

Each quarter banks report their worst-case estimates of costs tied to lawsuits and regulatory probes. Some banks reported lower figures in recent quarters, but others are braced to spend more to resolve legacy issues. New legal threats loom, too.

The telco-driven Isis mobile wallet will now be called Softcard, a name chosen to avoid confusion and association with a militant group in the Middle East that is often referred to as "ISIS."

First South Bancorp in Washington, N.C., has become the latest community bank to buy branches from Bank of America.

Mt. Washington Savings Bank in Cincinnati is planning to convert from a mutual savings and loan association to a company partly owned by public shareholders.

Comerica in Dallas has promoted Rhonda Davenport Johnson to national director of retail sales and service for its bank unit.

Cardinal Financial in Tysons Corner, Va., has agreed to buy a Virginia branch from Virginia Heritage Bank.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a proposal Tuesday designed to exclude captive insurers from the Home Loan Bank system.

Home Depot Inc., the largest home- improvement chain, fell as much as 3.4 percent in New York trading after saying it was working with banks and law enforcement to investigate a possible data breach.

As concerns mount that Somali-Americans will lose their pipeline for sending money home, Washington's response has been marked by what critics see as secrecy, buck-passing and a lack of interagency coordination.

Home Depot is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate a potential theft of its customers' credit and debit card information.

The company is opening high-tech loan production offices and using data analytics to match customers with products. But like other banks seeking to modernize, Seacoast is trying to balance short-term needs with costly long-term investments.

Banks with large mortgage operations are struggling with lower profit margins, detrimental fair-value accounting rules and new regulations that add cost. The market is discounting their stocks as a result, but many of these banks say the blanket assessment is unfair.

Six years after he lost control of the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., and days after news that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles plans to sue him, Countrywide founder Angelo Mozilo is baffled by a new effort to punish him, proud of past triumphs and incensed by criticism.

Redwood Trust and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago are revving up a program to buy and securitize jumbo loans and looking for signs that other FHLBs will participate.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has charged Evans Bancorp in Hamburg, N.Y., with deliberately failing to provide mortgages in minority neighborhoods in Buffalo.

While customers were losing faith in banks, they were falling in love with tech. Banks will have to start changing their message if they're going to catch up, according to consultant Chiaki Nishino.