Retail & Commercial

The Federal Trade Commission has returned more than $2.4 million in refunds to some 100 consumers harmed by the Premier Precious Metals scheme, which bilked millions of dollars from investors, including many senior citizens.

Two private debt collection agencies that had contracts to collect delinquent student loans for the U.S. Department of Education have announced layoff plans prompted by the federal agency ending collection contracts with some vendors.

Debt buyer PRA Group has expanded its Norfolk, Va. headquarters for the second time in just more than a year.

KeyCorp has been getting back into full-scale residential lending as part of a broader strategy to deepen client relationships. The market's shift toward purchase activity and defined mortgage rules also played a role.

Northern Trust in Chicago has appointed Donald Thompson, the recently ousted president and chief executive of McDonald's, to its board of directors.

Few would dispute that the U.S. ought to move to a faster payment system. But the hurdles to modernizing the infrastructure are daunting, said participants in a panel at this week's Retail Banking 2015 conference.

Tiered regulation could bring about a number of useful changes for regional banks, including a more customized approach to determining capital adequacy and simplified resolution planning requirements.

Reverse mortgage originators have not been immune to the wave of regulatory and compliance changes sweeping the mortgage industry over the past few years.

Great Western Bancorp in Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to record a spike in credit costs during the first quarter as it deals with issues tied to certain commercial loans.

Western Alliance Bancorp. in Phoenix has agreed to buy Bridge Capital Holdings in San Jose, Calif.