Discover Financial Services Inc. (DFS), the sixth-biggest U.S. credit-card lender, posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates as increased expenses offset a decline in soured loans.

Three former executives of a defunct debt-collection firm have pleaded guilty to charges they lied to a bank that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Investors Bancorp of Short Hills, N.J., has agreed to buy Roma Financial Corp. of Robbinsville, N.J. The deal, scheduled to close in the second quarter, would bring together two mutual thrifts and create a company with assets of more than $13 billion.

Adding to a storehouse of capital and maintaining strong regulatory relationships are among the banking veteran's top priorities following a failed bid to sell his company in early 2012.

The bank is retrenching from some of the country's wealthiest suburbs, abandoning some of its years-long efforts to cultivate affluent customers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have lost billions of dollars as a result of banks' allegedly manipulating the Libor benchmark that determines the price at which banks lend to one another.

Sierra Vista in Folsom, Calif., is the kind of bank typically marked for extinction. But it has raised enough equity to try to make itself into a buyer, or a more appealing takeover target.

Smartphone capabilities, like instant Internet access, integrated cameras and GPS systems, have given consumers more control over their banking relationship and are forcing financial institutions to adapt.

In a surprise move, the Federal Housing Administration's Acting Commissioner Carol Galante sent a letter to the Tennessee senator agreeing to make major policy changes, including ending a popular reverse mortgage program for seniors.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Wednesday that it is looking for input on how it should craft future proposals establishing new rules for credit cards.

Banks have the wherewithal to weather a drop in earnings that a recession sparked by a plunge off the fiscal cliff could produce, Moody's wrote in an analysis published Monday.

Six months after settling a legal battle with Capital One, John Kanas is eager to start hiring employees and opening branches in the Big Apple.

Mortgage applications fell last week after interest rates edged up and consumers dialed back on refinancing.

American National Bankshares in Danville, Va., is getting a new chief executive. The $1.3 billion-asset company said Tuesday that Jeffrey Haley will succeed Charles Majors as CEO on Jan. 1.

Bankers are applauding the opening salvo of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bid to address community bank troubles. But they're also already asking what comes next.

Wells Fargo will offer almost $60 million in cash rebates to more than 3,900 minority borrowers who were put into nonprime loans when they were eligible for prime ones.

U.S. Bank Wealth Management said Wednesday it has hired Terry Sandven as its chief equity strategist, a the newly created post.

The Treasury Department said that 218 banks remain in the Trouble Asset Relief Program's Capital Purchase Program, and that it expects to sell its stakes in roughly 144 banks in 2013.

2012 brought plenty of news that bankers -- and sometimes their regulators — would be happy to forget. Here's a rundown of a year in tarnished reputations and fines.

Massive regulation provides a deep moat protecting large financial institutions against competition from community banks and innovators.