Retail & Commercial

Liberty Bank in New Orleans reached agreement a year ago to acquire First Tuskegee Bank in Alabama. But the deal has remained in limbo ever since, and it shows that buyers and sellers can take little for granted in bank M&A.

Stellar, a new protocol for transmitting money, is launching under the guidance of several payments industry experts.

A study released Tuesday found that the share of Americans in collections has remained steady even as the U.S. pares down the size of its credit card debt.

Essex Bank in Richmond, Va., recently launched a wholesale mortgage funding group.

Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., has agreed to buy Intervest Bancshares in New York for $228.5 million in stock.

The troubled Greenville, S.C., bank lost $15 million in the second quarter, its first quarterly results since a new management team replaced the three founders who were fired in April. Moreover, local NAACP leaders have raised concerns about the firings, which they say sent a toxic message to the local African-American community.

Sun Bancorp in Mount Laurel, N.J., reported a second-quarter loss due to one-time charges related to its ongoing restructuring efforts.

One in four banks are eyeing wealth management as a way to boost noninterest income and deepen customer relationships, according to a new survey by American Banker and SourceMedia Research.

Regional and small banks are providing M&A advisory services to their commercial customers as a way to drive fee income, deepen client relationships and differentiate themselves from rivals.

If finalized and then approved by regulators, the combination of the Des Moines and Seattle Home Loan banks would be the first voluntary merger in the system’s history.