Fitch Ratings warned of a possible downgrade of Ocwen Financial after the Atlanta company agreed to buy Homeward Residential Holdings from WL Ross & Co.

Many lenders are pushing ahead with tight new borrowing requirements as they wait for regulators define a "qualified mortgage," as required by Dodd-Frank.

Trustmark in Jackson, Miss., does not expect to get regulators to OK its takeover of BancTrust in Mobile, Ala., until late this year or early next year.

Financial institutions can avoid negative headlines by monitoring feedback via social media, continually educating staff on how to talk to customers and making reputation risk a major part of their enterprise risk management program.

NBT Bancorp (NBTB) will acquire Alliance Financial (ALNC) in a deal valued at $233 million.

After years of providing financial services, Walmart is becoming a more formidable bank competitor with the addition of American Express's checking account alternative, Bluebird.

The Bluebird card will run on American Express's Serve platform and allow many ways of loading money.

MADISON, Wis. – Summit CU is poised to open its latest in-school branch in Memorial High School in January.

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU will open its 14th Maryland branch in the Baltimore suburb of Glenn Burnie Tuesday to serve more than 21,000 local members.

SI Financial Group (SIFI) in Willimantic, Conn., said it will report a third-quarter loss of up to $750,000 because of a rise in its loan-loss provision.

The embattled Lansing, Mich., company announced earlier this week that it had entered into agreements with two units of ValStone Partners, a private-equity firm in Birmingham, Mich.

Federal Reserve Board governor says vacancies are dragging down property values in high-foreclosure areas, and offers examples of solutions.

Roy Dowdy Jr., the CEO of Citizens Bank in Geneva, Ala., expects more healthy small town banks to sell as margins thin and costs rise. His bank decided to sell to Bank of the Ozarks earlier this week.

Many lenders aren't waiting around for regulators to define what a qualified mortgage is and instead are making their own rules.

New Vanity Fair profile recounts how New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady called JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon with inspiring words during a trying time.

Economic pressures will force more small banks to sell, and midsize banks will feast on them while regulatory limits trap big banks on the sidelines of M&A, says John Roddy, a Macquarie Group investment banker.

Michael Tierney will continue to tackle lingering mortgage problems at the Michigan company, which is also trying to expand more into commercial lending. Meanwhile, a key private-equity backer says is has no immediate interest to cash out of the company.

Wells Fargo is offering its retail customers free access to their credit scores between now and Nov. 15, a nationwide promotion overlaps with Get Smart About Credit Day.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated enforcement actions against TCSB Bancorp in Traverse City, Mich., and Northeast Securities Corporation in Minneapolis.

Bank of Henderson has agreed to buy Harrison Bancorp. The Kentucky bank did not disclose the price, though Dale Sights, its president and CEO, said that he expects to complete the acquisition next month.