Retail & Commercial

The Fed determined that the purchase of Susquehanna Bancshares, which would push BB&T's assets above $200 billion, will not pose a threat to the U.S. financial system. The approval could give more regional banks confidence to pursue bigger acquisitions.

Student loan servicers continue to use "shoddy" practices in handling loans for military service members, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.

Americas United Bank in Glendale, Calif., has agreed to buy two branches from Banc of California in Irvine.

The Federal Housing Administration wants to set a hard deadline for servicers to file claims on soured mortgages. Industry executives say it should be manageable — unless foreclosures surge again.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reached a broad agreement with the U.S. affiliate of Spanish powerhouse Banco Santander calling for improvements in internal risk management, liquidity and capital adequacy controls.

A credit review, along with concerns about certain change-in-control agreements, led Southwest Bancorp last summer to terminate a letter of intent to buy First Commercial Bancshares. The banks revisited the deal months later — at a lower premium — after First Commercial addressed the issues.

The former operators of an online payday lending scheme in the Kansas City area will be banned from the consumer finance business under a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

A federal court has stopped the operations and froze the assets of a national debt relief telemarketing business that is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Florida.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling that the disparate impact theory of liability can be applied to the Fair Housing Act means mortgage lenders must be even more vigilant in their ongoing testing and evaluation of business practices that could be interpreted as even unintentional discrimination.

A federal court has halted and frozen the assets of a nationwide credit card debt relief scam that allegedly stole millions of dollars from consumers.