Simmons First National Corp. in Pine Bluff, Ark., said Thursday that its third-quarter earnings fell 4% from a year earlier, to $7.3 million, due primarily to sharp drop in income from from the sale of student loans.

Taylor reported third-quarter earnings of $7.3 million following three quarters of losses. CEO Mark Hoppe said the company's credit costs are down and all of its growth engines are up and running.

Equifax is expanding the availability of technology it's developed to aid mortgage investors analyzing whole loan portfolios before and after they're purchased.

Silicon Valley Bank said Thursday that it has received a key approval from a Chinese regulator to establish a joint venture bank in Shanghai.

Community banks must be as mindful of operational risk as their larger brethren. That was the message delivered at this year's Risk Management Association annual conference by Rick Parsons, who retired in August as an operational risk executive at Bank of America Corp.

Sales of existing single-family homes fell 3.6% in September after a 9% spike in August, according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors.

Mortgage rates generally appear to be stabilizing after last week's jump above record lows, according to Freddie Mac's latest survey.

Consumer credit defaults were higher for first and second mortgages in September from the previous month, according to the S&P/Experian consumer credit default indices.

Groups similar to Occupy Wall Street have sprouted up in cities across the country like crab grass in August. Now into their second month of protests, these young Americans are objecting to bank bailouts, foreclosures, millionaires, and even capitalism.

Sen. Richard Shelby and Sen. Bob Corker both sounded skeptical of the value of the traditional mortgage product, raising questions about whether the GOP may seek to eliminate it as part of a housing reform overhaul.

Astoria Financial Corp.'s shares were down sharply at midday Thursday after the Lake Success, N.Y., lender reported a 48% drop in its third-quarter earnings.

The price First Financial paid to acquire Freestar is likely to encourage more prospective sellers.

Brookline Bancorp Inc.'s shares were down almost 6% Thursday morning after the company said it was delaying the release of its third-quarter earnings report.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that were weighed down by more than $16 million in costs from closing former Harleysville National Corp. branches in Pennsylvania.

The two largest U.S. banks serving Chinese Americans — Cathay General Bancorp and East West Bancorp Inc. — both reported double-digit jumps in third-quarter profits. Each cited solid demand for commercial loans.

Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle said Thursday that profits in its fiscal-year fourth quarter nearly doubled from a year earlier as its volume of problem loans continued to shrink.

The office of California's Attorney General on Tuesday subpoenaed Bank of America Corp., seeking to determine whether the bank sold and marketed mortgage-backed securities under false pretenses, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday on its website, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

TCF Financial Corp. said Thursday that its third-quarter earnings declined 14% from the same period last year, to $31.7 million, due largely to a sharp drop in fees earned on deposit accounts.

Iberiabank Corp. has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle claims the Lafayette, La., company illegally charged customers excessive overdraft fees.

Banks are ideally positioned to use their data on consumers' purchase histories and merchant relationships to send targeted daily-deal offers to customers. Groupon's random solicitations wouldn't stand a chance.