First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. in Chula Vista, Calif., reported that third-quarter earnings fell 82% from a year earlier, to $506,000, after income from lending fell and expenses jumped.

Two banking companies owned by North American Financial Holdings — TIB Financial and Capital Bank — posted turnarounds in quarterly earnings after their takeover and recapitalization.

Two former executives of Orion Bank, Angel Guerzon and Thomas Hebble, were banned from banking by the Federal Reserve Board due to their participation in "unsafe and unsound practices, breaches of fiduciary duty, and violations of law and regulation," the agency said in a press release.

At a time when banks' relationships with their customers are on the rocks, loan facilitator Weemba uses the tactics of online dating to help lenders build stronger connections.

In the wake of the financial meltdown of 2008, an increasingly persistent attack on money market mutual funds is underway. Present and former high government officials, academics, and some editorial writers have joined the fray, each offering their own approach for reengineering the money fund industry.

Four community bankers on the hunt for acquisitions warned prospective sellers that they will have little say in how much they get paid.

Trade group for retail banking adds six new members to its staff.

Some banks are starting to notice the poor customers they have long ignored. Regions Financial Corp. is one of several banks expanding its check-cashing and the other "alternative" financial services that have long been offered by Wal-Mart and other non-banks.

The Justice Department on Thursday ordered First Niagara Financial Group to sell 26 of the branches it has agreed to buy from HSBC Holdings. The branches are in the Buffalo area and have $1.6 billion of deposits.

Consumer groups that have already raised questions about Capital One Financial Corp.'s purchase of Internet bank ING Direct USA have now turned their attention to the bank's purchase of the credit card portfolio of HSBC Holdings PLC.

The New York banking department has reached an agreement with Morgan Stanley to implement new mortgage servicing standards after signing a similar deal with Goldman Sachs in September.

The branch banking model is outdated, and not just because many still use pneumatic tubes at the drive-through lane.

Federal regulators have ordered 14 mortgage services to help borrowers that were harmed by foreclosure errors, but left it up to them to develop common remediation guidelines. The servicers and their consultants met in Washington this week to try and reach a consensus.

Families that own capital-starved banks are facing the decision whether to raise capital from outside investors — saving the banks but diluting their own stakes — or to keep pumping money into them to keep them alive.

Banks should adhere to high moral standards by discouraging people from going needlessly into debt. The concept of "fly now, pay later" does not promote consumers’ financial responsibility.

Vantiv Inc., parent of Cincinnati-based payment processor Vantiv LLC, filed an initial public offering of $100 million of Class A common shares, saying it will use the proceeds to repay loans and redeem Class B units.

Sandra Fisher Martins will brook no lawyerly explanations for impenetrable, convoluted writing. People have a “right to understand,” she says in a recently posted TED video.

American Express Co. and vente-privee.com on Wednesday launched their joint venture, a website featuring member-only sales of luxury goods from European and American designers.

For consumers, transferring banks is more difficult than it sounds. For banks, losing shifting deposits can make for surprising winners and losers.

The nation's 10 largest retail banks are at risk of losing $185 billion of deposits over the next year as customers will look to move primary accounts to community and regional banks that they perceive as being more consumer friendly.