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JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is standing up for megabanks against growing criticism and calls for their breakup.

Zions Bancorp. (ZION) posted lower fourth-quarter earnings after taking a big charge on its holdings of collateralized debt obligations.

Richard Cordray's recess appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may ultimately be invalidated, but legal experts say several recent mortgage regulations approved on his watch may still be upheld.

Sierra Vista Bank (SVBA) in Folsom, Calif., is soldiering on with newly raised capital, though its profit shrank in the fourth quarter.

EverBank and OneWest appear set to do what regulators and the largest mortgage servicers concluded was impractical: Finish the independent foreclosure reviews.

Other acquisitive banks have dropped regional monikers, but Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., is focusing on service instead of rebranding, its CEO says.

First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., reported higher quarterly earnings after settling a lawsuit with an activist investor.

Persistent challenges such as margin compression and rising expenses will eventually force more banks to sell.

The inspector general monitoring Tarp says that, despite its previous warnings, the Treasury Department has failed to improve its policies and procedures to ensure that its own guidelines on executive pay are met.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will let some borrowers who kept up payments as their homes lost value erase their debts by giving up the properties.

Reopening the mortgage securitization pipeline is a vital step toward a housing market recovery that will boost the wider economy, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said today in a Las Vegas speech.

Wells Fargo (WFC) changed its compensation for some mortgage salespeople to include a reward for submitting complete loan applications to processors and underwriters within five days.

Investar would acquire a bank with two branches in southeastern Louisiana.

Yes, an effective sales organization awakens customers to newly perceived needs. But it also markets the products that yield the highest return—not necessarily the ones customers would most want to buy.

KeyCorp (KEY) announced plans to offer new consumer, business and commercial credit cards this year.

Old National Bancorp (ONB) in Evansville, Ind., reported a small rise in fourth-quarter earnings, as higher expenses offset a rise in interest income.

Expenses weighed on UnionBanCal in San Francisco in the fourth quarter. Earnings at the $97 billion-asset company, which is wholly owned by Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, fell 4.7% from a year earlier, to $123 million.

UBS Chairman Axel Weber is urging fellow leaders of some of the world's biggest financial institutions to settle government probes into their alleged manipulation of a benchmark that determines the price at which banks lend to each other.

Interest income and fees boosted Chemical Financial's quarterly results.