Retail & Commercial

First Niagara Financial Group raised to $1.1 billion the amount of the goodwill impairment charge it recorded in the third quarter, as the Buffalo, N.Y., company cuts the value of assets acquired since 2009.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has made some key changes to its compliance guide for the three major mortgage rules that took effect earlier this year.

Harvard Illinois Bancorp in Harvard, Ill., which recently disclosed that it had been exposed to a fraud scheme involving certain investments, has hired an investment bank to help it "evaluate strategic alternatives."

MUFG Union Bank in New York has promoted Mike Feldman to head of branch and private banking.

Central Bancshares in Muscatine, Iowa, has agreed to buy Buffalo Prairie State Bank in Buffalo Prairie, Ill.

Former President Bill Clinton addressed a crowd of thousands of Southern California kids Sunday at the largest-ever gathering for financial literacy education.

Bay Commercial Bank in Walnut Creek, Calif., has stepped in to outbid a rival to buy Valley Community Bank in Pleasanton, Calif.

Prime brokerage clients (read hedge funds) are the latest kind of customer being cut loose by banks as they curtail business with parties deemed high risk. Other banks are being careful about the castoffs they recruit, and nonbank brokers are on the rise.

The National Credit Union Administration claims a Deutsche Bank unit was negligent as a trustee overseeing mortgage-backed securities and played a role in the failure of five corporate credit unions.

The Treasury Department and its anti-money laundering unit find themselves on the defensive as bankers say they're cutting ties with entire business sectors as a result of blunt enforcement efforts.