Opinions

For many small and midsize banks, AML is all about compliance and getting through an examination without too many bruises. The means overshadow the ends.

The Federal Reserve Board has approved FirstMerit's pending acquisition of Citizens Republic Bancorp (CRBC) in Flint, Mich.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has terminated a written agreement with Intervest National Bank in New York.

Directors should recognize that appropriate professional behavior reinforced by a sense of belonging to a quality franchise constitutes a decisive competitive advantage.

Patrick Fahey's last act as a turnaround specialist ended with the 2010 failure of Frontier Bank. First Sound Bank in Seattle is poised for a much different outcome.

Even as debit networks and other participants finally get on the same page for EMV chip-card acceptance, the U.S. is still a long way off from widespread consumer adoption of EMV cards.

Virtual currencies have finally garnered enough of a following to make the U.S. government react. Bitcoin's a big focus, but even companies like Facebook and Amazon.com may have to take FinCEN's new rules into account.

Cypriot lawmakers approved capital controls and legislation to wind down banks as they scrambled to secure a European bailout and avert a financial collapse of the Mediterranean island.

Demands for action to fix "too big to fail" are near a fever pitch. Following are the most likely scerios for how the debate is resolved.

The Senate is expected to pass two budget amendments Friday designed to break up the big banks and prohibit the use of certain fee hikes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce government spending.