Retail & Commercial

The income gap between wealthy and average consumers in the U.S. is growing while overall debt held by consumers dropped, according to the Federal Reserve's September survey on consumer finances.

Camden Fine at the Independent Community Bankers of America believes entrepreneurial bankers will return to starting new banks in the latter half of this decade as the industry adjusts to the new business conditions and as consolidation creates voids.

Today's hackers are "extremely sophisticated" and banks need to work hard to keep pace with their methods of attack, warns James Sills, who recently left his job as chief information officer for the state of Delaware to become CEO of a small bank in North Carolina.

Bankers criticize credit unions' tax-exempt status because they fear they are losing ground to member-owned financial cooperatives, writes the Credit Union National Association's Bill Hampel.

A class-action settlement resolving claims that Bank of America violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act received a federal district court's final approval - with some changes. The dollar amount, while large, is less than half of a recent record case involving Capital One.

While the average debt among Canadians increased when compared to the same quarter last year, the national delinquency rate reached its lowest level since 2008.

First Mountain Bank in Big Bear Lake, Calif., is looking to replace a pair of bankers who collectively have more than 80 years of industry experience.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., has been hit with a consent order tied to compliance weaknesses tied to the Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act.

Russia's Sberbank is offering a "cat housewarming delivery service" to new mortgage borrowers in an effort to ditch its staid reputation, writes Austin Kilgore of National Mortgage News.

Wells Fargo Bank plans to lay off 115 call center employees at a facility in Roanoke County, Va. as a result of reductions in delinquencies and foreclosures, according to a spokeswoman.