Retail & Commercial

March Madness office pools are in full swing. While sports analysts provide ample entertainment, their predictions have time and again forced me to shell out to my victorious colleagues. For this reason, I shut out the chatter and focus on the stats.

Spring is here, making it a good time to review banks' wide-ranging marketing efforts at all levels of baseball, from the majors to college.

The economy has improved, and banks are doing a better job of making money, but activist investors are still putting pressure on certain community banks. Here is an overview of banks that are facing proxy battles in coming months.

The leader of the Senate Banking Committee said he'd rather leave Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in U.S. conservatorship than pass a bill that includes explicit government support for the housing market.

While a number of community banks are preparing for lock horns with dissident shareholders, a bank in Indiana managed to work with an activist to avoid a nasty brouhaha.

Southern Missouri Bancorp in Poplar Bluff has filed to sell $20 million in preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Small Business Lending Fund.

Amalgamated Bank of Chicago has sold its headquarters building for $35 million.

A mortgage relief operation has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they illegally charged upfront fees for services they falsely promised would reduce consumers’ mortgage interest rates or monthly payments.

Under tough questioning on Capitol Hill, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Martin Gruenberg said the agency accepts blame for fallout over its "high risk" businesses list as an internal FDIC watchdog is still investigating.

Former Federal Reserve Gov. Jeremy Stein has agreed to consult for hedge fund BlueMountain Capital Management, the fund announced Tuesday.