Retail & Commercial

Competition and regulation will make things difficult next year, but a panel of banking experts believes banks that mine new markets and expand product offerings have an opportunity to succeed.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it sold bank and insurance trust-preferred collateralized debt obligations that cost about $8.3 million -- at an $850,000 loss.

Ocwen Financial (OCN) is preparing to pay $2.1 billion to settle allegations of misconduct in its servicing practices, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Olney Bancshares of Texas in Olney has agreed to buy Park Cities Bank from North Texas Bancshares in Dallas.

The Federal Trade Commission provided information to Congress on Wednesday on the status of its work regarding data brokers - firms that collect and aggregate consumers’ information and then resell it.

Target has confirmed the compromise of the credit and debit card data of 40 million Target shoppers and says the problem has been identified and resolved. However, thieves are selling the card account information as fast as they can on underground sites, according to security blogger and expert Brian Krebs.

Rockville Financial (RCKB) in Connecticut and United Financial Bancorp (UBNK) in West Springfield, Mass., will close four overlapping branches after their planned merger closes next year.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., has sold two batches of securities in order to comply with the Volcker Rule.

As more consumers pile into Bitcoin and the currency's market capitalization increases, any handful of trades will not have as strong an effect on the currency’s price swings.

BancorpSouth (BXS) in Tupelo, Miss., is strengthening its insurance business in Texas.