No matter how rewarding a credit card is, redeeming points is typically a clunky processs. To date, the lone island of simplicity in this sea of confusion has been with JPMorgan Chase and American Express, which allow cardholders to use points as easily as dollars when shopping on Amazon.com. Now, Discover is joining the movement.

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. in Coral Gables, Fla., has added to its wealth management division by hiring two employees with ties to Lydian Private Bank, which was closed by regulators in August.

Banks are already in the thrall of a new business model even worse than the utility one: the industry is frozen solid in fear both of relentless credit risk and remorseless regulatory requirements.

At the BAI Retail Delivery Conference, executives at Extraco Banks in Temple, Texas share how using cash recyclers, modern teller software, check imaging and "intelligent" ATMs is improving customer service and branch efficiency.

The agencies responsible for implementing the restriction on proprietary trading have asked the public to respond to hundreds of questions over the next three months that will help shape the final version.

U.S. Bancorp said Tuesday that it has launched a new iPhone app that lets its retail partners offer instant credit to their customers.

First Citizens BancShares Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., has retired its IronStone Bank brand and converted IronStone's 58 branches into branches of its First Citizens Bank.

FNB United Corp. is another step closer to completing its proposed acquisition of Bank of Granite Corp. after receiving approval for the deal from the Federal Reserve of Richmond.

Members of Har-CO FCU voted to approve the conversion of the $200 million credit union to a mutual savings bank, the first credit union conversion in more than two years.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday proposed regulations outlining how banks should restructure their operations to comply with a new ban on risky speculative bets.

First Financial Corp. in Terre Haute, Ind., is bulking up in Illinois with a deal to acquire Freestar Bank in Pontiac for $47 million.

Big bank critic Arianna Huffington had some unusually kind words for bankers at The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking gala, but she said in an interview that there's still an "enormous amount that needs to be fixed" in the industry.

PLEASANTON, Calif. – Patelco CU added a new location in San Mateo.

BRUNSWICK, Me. – Navy FCU plans to close its lone Maine branch at the Navy Commissary and exchange.

WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Texoma Community CU hopes to inspire people to think pink by painting its sign pink at the Southwest Parkway branch.

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Arianna Huffington: "I owe an enormous amount to bankers."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Beth Mooney: "We didn't lead with our differences."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Beth Mooney: "We didn't lead with our differences."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Heidi Miller: "I was a beneficiary of affirmative action."