Retail & Commercial

Wells Fargo will pay up to $5 million to resolve allegations it discriminated against mothers on maternity leave, the largest settlement of such claims ever reached by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Pennsylvania-based collection agency Commonwealth Financial Systems Inc. owes more than $2 million to the state's Department of Revenue.

Community West Bancshares in Goleta, Calif., is continuing to find ways to buy back stock it issued through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Bankers should temper their criticism of new regulations with some support for reform, lest the American public think the industry has failed to heed the lessons of the financial crisis.

Veritex Holdings in Dallas could sell up to $40.4 million of its common stock as part of its initial public offering.

NewBridge Bancorp in Greensboro, N.C., has agreed to buy Premier Commercial Bank in Greensboro.

UBS AG is tightening its rules on how employees can trade securities for personal accounts, telling staffers it wants to prevent potential abuses.

Heritage Commerce in San Jose, Calif., has agreed to buy the parent company of factoring firm Bay View Funding in Santa Clara, Calif.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is raising questions about the policies and data banks use to vet consumers before allowing them to open a checking account.

Banks have ceded market share to business-development companies, hedge funds and others when it comes to loans to midsize companies. Unless banks strengthen cross-selling techniques and embrace technology soon, then competition, Basel III and other forces will eat into their profits.