Retail & Commercial

Two weeks after U.S. bank remittances to Somalia dried up, regulators and lawmakers are making only slow progress at preventing a potential humanitarian crisis.

Five Star Credit Union in Dothan, Ala., has agreed to buy Farmers State Bank in Lumpkin, Ga.

Pay.gov, the federal government's web portal for collecting payments to federal agencies, is now offering PayPal and Dwolla as payment options.

Orrstown Bank in Pennsylvania has introduced two-way text messaging between customers and its service agents. It's the latest effort in the banking industry to make communication easier for mobile-first customers.

Several Korean-American banks are entering markets and businesses designed to target mainstream clients and other ethnic groups. Such moves are viewed as a way to improve the bottom line as revenue growth proves daunting.

Consumers Union launched a campaign Wednesday asking the largest telephone companies to offer customers free tools to block robocalls.

Decisions about when and how to implement EMV technology in credit and debit cards are difficult. Many banks have decided to slowly phase it in, despite the fact the delay will open them up to greater potential liability.

Foreclosures and delinquencies may seem like problems from the past, but servicers are still struggling with a massive backlog of distressed loans and a return to normalcy is at least two years away, if not longer.

New data reveals that mortgage delinquency rates have declined to 3.29% at the end of Q4 2014 among all age groups. This shift marks a 14% drop year-over-year from 3.84% in Q4 2013.

Encouraging the financial industry to explore faster payments is all well and good. Effectively directing it to do so, however, is beyond the Fed's authority.