Home sales contracts are falling through at twice the rate of last year, according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors at its annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.

The Federal Housing Administration, which sold more than 102,000 government-owned homes in fiscal 2011, expects to sell that many again in the new fiscal year.

Rampant data breaches have taught consumers that it is not always wise to store payment data with a third party, but soon such behavior may become the safer way to transact.

Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., said Monday that it had added two of its senior executives to its board.

The outcome of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's 'Larger Participant' rule has the potential to level the playing field between the banking industry and an old rival: Wal-Mart.

State Bank Financial Corp. in Atlanta reported that its third-quarter earnings nearly doubled from a quarter earlier, to $17.1 million, due largely to higher accretion on loans covered by loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The City Holding (W.Va.) deal for Virginia Savings was eye-catching for its simplicity, but deals between healthy banks will remain the exception for now.

By boosting its offerings to military personnel, JPMorgan Chase may find itself maneuvering against USAA, which has set the gold standard for serving customers in the armed forces. To succeed, JPMorgan Chase must have the right remote-banking technology in place.

The Justice Department began sending letters Monday to servicemembers who are entitled to $20 million in damages from Bank of America Corp. for alleged violations of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act.

More banks have sold problem assets to private-equity groups this year, while others unloaded their banks in hopes of unlocking the value in nonperforming assets. Some believe selling bad loans to nonbanks could shore up valuations by removing the challenges of regulatory oversight.

There's no "social mandate from heaven to make automobiles affordable for all," says columnist Andrew Kahr. Yet subprime auto has come out of the crisis unscathed. Unlike mortgage lenders, auto financiers didn't fall prey to the assumption that prices would inexorably rise.

Only 13% of U.S. cardholders access their credit card accounts from their smartphone.

Judge Jonathan Lippman, regulator Benjamin Lawsky and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are standing up to an industry intent on forgetting that the foreclosure crisis affects real people, real lives and real families.

City Holding, one of the largest banking companies based in West Virginia, has agreed to acquire Virginia Savings Bancorp for about $13.4 million, giving it an entrée into Virginia.

Banks should promote NFC as a standard at the retail level because it represents their best chance to maintain relationships with merchants and provide payment credentials to consumers, Zil Bareisis, a senior analyst for Celent, writes.

H&R Block said Monday that it has named JPMorgan Chase executive Susan Ehrlich as president of its financial services.

Lawyers have opened a new front in mortgage securities litigation by suing BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank over an alleged failure to properly handle the storage and recordkeeping of mortgage documents. But observers and participants in more established mortgage repurchase litigation question whether suing over trust and document custody errors is a promising fight.

The U.S. is increasingly moving toward the EMV chip card standard as a panacea for credit card fraud, but it may actually be a Pandora's box.

H&R Block named Susan Ehrlich president of financial services to oversee its H&R Block Bank strategy and several other financial service offerings, including the Emerald Card.

VeriFone said Monday that it is buying the Northern European payment and gateway services provider Point to fuel its support of alternative payment forms.