The Federal Reserve Board said Wednesday that the independent consultant overseeing payments to millions of consumers as part of its mortgage settlement had fixed problems that had caused troubled borrowers' checks to bounce.

Congress can certainly help, but regulators must recognize that they have a structural oversight problem and need to develop remedies on their own.

Bank of America's Countrywide unit agreed to pay $500 million to settle a lawsuit over billions of dollars in residential mortgage-backed securities that were downgraded to junk.

Fees and commissions provided a silver lining for BancFirst in Oklahoma City last quarter.

Raj Date, the former deputy director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has started a bank advisory firm that will focus on consumer finance issues, including assisting mergers and acquisitions through private equity partnerships.

Bank of America (BAC) reported a jump in first-quarter profit that missed some analysts' estimates as lower mortgage banking income slowed the company's turnaround. The shares dropped 3.3 percent in early New York trading.

Poorly written regulations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development are at the crux of a force-placed insurance fight between lenders and homeowners, federal judges declared at a hearing earlier this month.

Fulton Financial (FULT) in Lancaster, Pa., reported a slight increase in quarterly profit as better credit quality and higher securities gains offset revenue declines.

ING U.S., the American insurance unit of ING Groep (INGA), plans to raise as much as $1.54 billion in an initial public offering as its Dutch parent focuses on operations at home.

Jacoby Dickens, majority owner and chairman of Seaway Bancshares, died Sunday at his home in Fisher Island, Fla., Crain's Chicago Business reported.

Comerica is generating enough loan growth in its key markets that it is under no pressure to expand through acquisitions, Chairman and Chief Executive Ralph Babb says.

Richard Davis, whose U.S. Bancorp reported a quarterly revenue slowdown, says the threat of higher rates actually would stir complacent corporate borrowers to seek more credit. But when that would happen is anybody's guess.

California lawmakers are considering a bill that could potentially cripple profits for payday lenders in the nation's largest state.

While some call Bitcoin an "existential threat to the state," local governments could soon embrace the digital currency and payment system as a practical alternative to credit and debit cards.

Community banks spent $250 million and more than 8 million hours on regulation implemented during the first quarter, a recent study found.

Tompkins Financial (TMP) in Ithaca, N.Y., has hired an executive from National Penn Bancshares (NPBC) to run its bank in southeast Pennsylvania.

Strong fee income and rising stock markets lifted Northern Trust (NTRS) in the first quarter. Earnings at the nation's third-largest custody bank rose 2% from the same period a year earlier, to $164 million.

Quarterly profit fell at Westamerica Bancorp. (WABC) in San Rafael, Calif., as interest and fee income declined.

Bank of the West's Andy Harmening says there needs to be more conversation to determine the future of the big banks and whether they should be broken up. Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head, spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed slight tweaks to help clarify mortgage rules first issued in January.