Retail & Commercial

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is committing $33 million to encourage community development financial institutions to work together to stimulate economic growth in underserved markets.

Longtime CEO William Cooper tells analysts that he is as optimistic as ever about his company's growth prospects following its reinvention.

Sunrise Bank in Cocoa Beach, Fla., has been freed from an enforcement order from the Federal Reserve Board.

Technology, like mobile banking and credit scoring, has eroded any strategic advantages small banks once held in serving small businesses, industry experts say.

The Westbury, N.Y., bank has sought a large deal to vault well over the $50 billion-asset threshold. But with no transformational deal in sight, it is now willing to pass that asset milestone through a small acquisition or organic growth.

The $17.6 billion-asset company's fourth-quarter earnings fell 36% from a year earlier, to $18.5 million.

Bankers think the regulatory environment is bad already, but it could get worse as regulators crack down harder on rules violators, hold directors and foreign banks to stricter standards and tackle "too big to fail," a top banking lawyer says.

Trustmark (TRMK) in Jackson, Miss., reported net income that missed Wall Street estimates, largely because of a drop in fee income.

In New Zealand, numbers from the country's Reserve Bank show total credit card balances neared $6 billion in December - a record high and a sign people are returning to poor credit card habits not seen since before the global financial crisis.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) could fetch at least $2 billion for its commodities unit after it received bids from Blackstone Group LP (BX), Macquarie Group and Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said.