Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now become the gatekeepers for underwriting qualified mortgages. This guidance might be a safe harbor from litigation, but history indicates it may fail as a safe harbor from risky lending.

Market Rates Insight recently evaluated deposit pricing in the nation's five largest metropolitan markets. Here is a quick look at how competitive banks are for liquidity in the most populous U.S. cities.

Glacier Bancorp (GBCI) in Kalispell, Mont., has reached an agreement to buy Wheatland Bankshares Wheatland, Wyo.

The FHFA abruptly killed a Fannie Mae plan earlier this month that promised to save the GSE hundreds of millions of dollars in force-placed insurance premiums. Critics see industry pressure as the culprit.

HOOVER, Ala. – Alabama Telco CU sold its former headquarters building here to Northwestern Mutual Life for $2.1 million.

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FirstMerit (FMER) in Akron, Ohio, has named a president of its Michigan operations as it prepares to enter the state.

Citigroup (NYSE:C), the third-largest U.S. bank, named Peter Orszag chairman of its expanded financial strategy and solutions group while selecting Ajay Khorana and Elinor Hoover to co-lead the unit.

Too-big-too-fail worries in the U.S. make the full sale of Royal Bank of Scotland's Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., highly unlikely, despite speculation about potential buyers.

Cambridge Bancorp in Massachusetts has added Donald Briggs, a specialist in retail real estate, to its board. Briggs is senior vice president of development for the Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Sen. Bob Corker released a statement downplaying an earlier report that suggested the lawmaker is "angling to broker a compromise" with President Obama over the confirmation of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Banks and thrifts are boosting their investments in bank-owned life insurance in an effort to keep pace with rising employee benefits costs and generate additional income.

Policymakers can shape the Dodd-Frank risk retention requirements in a way that brings private investment back to the multifamily mortgage business. The window of opportunity is short.

Radio silence from the CFPB on how it views the enforcement of fair lending laws is making community bankers nervous.

Capital Bank in Vineland, N.J., reported record earnings and a larger dividend.

The Bipartisan Policy Center has released a proposal that calls for a catastrophic government guarantee to backstop mortgages, similar to an idea first floated by the Treasury Department two years ago.

JPMorganChase (JPM) has promoted a regional executive to lead its commercial banking unit that serves midsize businesses.

Monday marked the 150th anniversary of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a landmark the agency noted by touting its accomplishments.

Though regulators gave community banks an exemption for balloon mortgages, they carved out such a narrow definition that some banks would be forced to stop making them.