First Niagara Financial Group Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y., has shifted its small-business banking focus away from individual branches to a newly created business unit that will be solely dedicated to attracting and retaining small-business customers.

Unused credit card lines fell another $21 billion in the fourth quarter as utilization rates, or loans as a percentage of available credit, continued to rebound.

Tom Brouster, hired last week as a consultant to Reliance Bancshares, has a track record of turning around struggling banks. Brouster, who declined to outline a specific strategy for the St. Louis-area company, said in an interview Tuesday that selling is always an option in banking.

Visa Europe plans to acquire a 15% minority stake in mobile retail payments provider Mobile Money Network Ltd., the European payment system provider announced March 7.

Judicial Watch has sued the Federal Housing Finance Agency, claiming that the agency wrongfully denied a request for documents related to a lawsuit over alleged misrepresentations of mortgage-backed securities.

Esther George, the new president of the Kansas City Fed, discusses her fears on overburdening small banks, whether too big to fail is over, and her approach to regulation.

Building on its landmark partnership with the Ohio State University, Huntington Bancshares Inc. is launching a new service on campus this week that will allow students to access their bank accounts with their school identification cards.

Roma Financial Corp. in Robbinsville, N.J., reported that its profit for 2011 rose almost 37% from a year earlier, to $7 million, because of loan growth and a lower loan-loss provision.

Actions by the CFPB and Fannie Mae could upend big banks' controversial practices of taking out insurance policies on borrowers' homes.

Mortgage application volume declined by 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended March 2, as the market share of refinance apps hit their lowest point since December, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Data for the previous week was adjusted for Presidents Day.

Shareholders of Mainline Bancorp Inc. in Ebensbug, Pa., have approved the company's sale to S&T Bancorp Inc.

American Express cardholders will be invited to sync their card accounts with their Twitter accounts, providing an avenue for the customer to easily consume coupons and for American Express to easily learn much more about its customers.

Savannah Bancorp Inc. in Georgia said that one of its bank has entered into a consent order with regulators and now must work to maintain capital levels and reduce problem assets.

Encore Bancshares in Houston had a three-year plan for independence before an offer from Cadence Bancorp provided shareholders with the same value … immediately.

Internet scams were the top consumer fraud complaint in 2011, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

RENTON, Wash. – Alaska USA FCU opened its first branch in the nearby town of Puyallup and its 20th branch in Washington.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director, Edward DeMarco, recently sent to Congress a strategic plan for the next phase of conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A new structure for housing finance requires congressional action, yet neither Congress nor the administration has come up with an acceptable plan in the three years since Fannie and Freddie were placed into conservatorship. It's far from clear that the DeMarco plan will get the job done.

Fannie Mae intends to acquire coverage for uninsured borrowers through a carrier of its choosing, it announced on Tuesday. The move would "significantly reduce costs to homeowners, taxpayers, and Fannie Mae," the GSE says, but harm a profitable business for mortgage servicers.

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin last week returned a unanimous verdict finding Blackhawk Network liable for infringing two InComm patent claims.

Legislation that would let banks appeal examination findings to an outside arbiter has now been introduced in both houses of Congress.