The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement with Bank of America, which releases the company from liability for failing to provide alternatives to foreclosure on 57,000 delinquent government-insured mortgages.

Banking has become a complicated business, and working with regulators and other outside parties such as auditors and shareholders makes it even more so. Management teams, especially directors, increasingly need simpler tools such as dashboard reports and guidelines rather than complex methodologies and models.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. is offering a new credit card that will allow its small-business customers to set spending controls on cards issued to their employees.

Community bank letting a vendor keep its systems up to date on regulatory requirements.

Buoyed by gains in mortgage-servicing revenue, Ocwen Financial in Atlanta reported net income of $26.4 million in the second quarter, up 65% from the $16 million it earned in the same quarter last year.

Clifton Savings Bancorp Inc. in New Jersey said that its second-quarter net income fell nearly 18% from the same period last year due to legal expenses related to its decision to terminate its planned second-step conversion.

Last month, our article focused on the Durbin amendment and what banks can control when faced with legislative mandates with which they must comply.

Profits at TFS Financial Corp. in Cleveland fell sharply in the quarter that ended June 30, as a surge of new loan activity could not make up for a steep drop in noninterest income.

In one of the first actions of its kind, the National Credit Union Administration has sued a real estate appraiser it says provided a faulty appraisal for a loan that left the now-defunct Utah Central Credit Union holding the bag for more than $400,000.

Annaly Capital Management posted second-quarter net earnings of $120.8 million, compared with a loss of $218.2 million a year earlier.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has established a price target for a $500 million term loan it's marketing to institutional investors that Lender Processing Services Inc. will use to refinance debt.

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Prepaid card marketer NetSpend Holdings Inc. reported a 10.3% year-over-year increase in revenue on Wednesday as use of its cards rose.

Congress has expressed deep concern about the regulatory control of banks, yet at the same time wants banks to aggressively finance business and economic growth.

MasterCard is aiming to drive more prepaid card transactions through a deal with Wal-Mart to sell cards that promote shared accounts and bill payment.

While Visa is adding new fees and reducing existing ones to entice merchant routing, MasterCard plans to make changes only on a deal-by-deal basis.

At a time when megabank mortgage servicers are under siege by regulators and consumer groups for their treatment of customers, a small band of specialty servicers is trying to convince Washington that its members can do better.

Fremont Bank's contactless chip cards are safer than magnetic stripe cards, but they require reluctant merchants to open their IT wallets for an upgrade. Sound familiar?

Increases in debit-network fees and favorable changes in foreign currency fueled a 5.4% increase in second-quarter revenue for First Data Corp., to $2.75 billion from $2.61 billion a year ago, the company reported Aug. 3.

American Express Co. has told Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. it will keep its stake in the lender after entering into a contract to hedge fluctuations in the stock price, Reuters reported Wednesday citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.