Retail & Commercial

Debt buyer Portfolio Recovery Associates has acquired Aktiv Kapital AS, a Norway-based accounts receivable management company, in one of the largest deals in accounts receivable management history. The combined companies will be called PRA Group.

U.S. Bancorp, the nation's largest regional lender, reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as the company set aside less money to cover losses and commercial loan growth accelerated.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. regional bank, reported a profit that beat analysts' estimates as expenses declined and the company set aside less money to cover soured loans.

Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. bank, said profit declined 43 percent as it spent $4 billion to cover litigation costs, including a mortgage settlement with American International Group Inc.

Smaller banks are disproportionately affected by regulation, forcing some to consider selling or to rethink their strategy, two community bankers argued before Congress.

Farmers & Merchants Bank (FMBM) in Timberville, Va., plans a preferred stock offering to raise $9.5 million.

First Commonwealth Financial Corp. (FCF) in Indiana, Pa., has launched a new residential mortgage banking division.

WASHINGTON — A new analysis by the American Action Forum examines the cumulative costs and paperwork burdens of the Dodd-Frank Act roughly four years after the financial reform law's passage.

The industry is slowly turning to valuations based on earnings rather than tangible book value, raising concerns that banks might feel pressure to make short-term decisions and ill-fated acquisitions.

The Virginia and West Virginia bankers associations have intensified merger discussions and could combine into a single trade group by year's end, according to a report Tuesday from Richmond BizSense.