Retail & Commercial

Frustrated by low yields on commercial and real estate loans, banks are finding innovative ways to beef up their consumer loan books. They are creating new business lines, teaming with established retailers, even partnering with alternative lenders in an effort to diversify and generate new streams of revenue.

Mortgage servicers have failed to make significant investments in technology and compliance systems, resulting in substantial harm to consumers, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Southern Banc in Gadsden, Ala., said it could report a loss for its fiscal year after recording a charge tied to a bad loan.

Of all the changes in the banking industry over the last eight years, this one is perhaps most surprising: the bank that was once synonymous with high finance now takes deposits as small as $1. Here is a look at key steps in Goldman Sachs' decision to look beyond its roots in investment banking and develop a retail business.

WASHINGTON — Industry and consumer groups are calling on the Federal Housing Finance Agency to reduce the loan fees that homebuyers have to pay on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteed mortgage loans.

For some banks, gone are the days of just using social media to update followers on branch hours. Increasingly, banks are using sites like Twitter and Facebook for something much larger.

Santander InnoVentures has invested in a fintech startup that uses consumers' digital footprint data, including social media, to confirm identity.

The $5.3 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it will buy two branches in the California markets of Granada Hills and Burbank from the $7.3 billion-asset Boston Private Financial Holdings in Boston.

First Mid-Illinois signed a confidentiality agreement last fall to pursue a mystery bank in Illinois. It soon discovered that the bank — First Clover Leaf — was an institution it had heavily courted three years earlier.

Regions Financial in Birmingham has restructured its small and middle-market banking business, and tapped Bill Horton – a 42-year veteran of the company – to oversee the division.