Retail & Commercial

The share of U.S. mortgages that are seriously delinquent plunged to the lowest level in almost five years as improving employment and rising home prices move the foreclosure crisis closer to an end.

TowneBank bought a minority stake in a security firm to help protect its commercial customers and boost revenue.

The Chevy Chase, Md., network completed two loans totaling $40 million that were secured by long-term care facilities in California and Ohio, BancAlliance said Thursday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should further narrow the circumstances in which Fannie or Freddie can make a lender repurchase a loan. This would encourage lending and strengthen the recovery.

BlackRock, DoubleLine and Pimco filed a lawsuit Wednesday to try to stop the city of Richmond from buying and restructuring underwater mortgages through the use of eminent domain.

Buyers, sellers and shareholders rarely profit from bank acquisitions, the author argues. There are too many things that have to go right in the pricing and integration, and there is too much that can go wrong.

Quarry City Savings & Loan Association, a mutual thrift in Warrensburg, Mo., has applied to convert to a stock charter and sell shares to the public.

Carolina Alliance Bank (CRLN) in Spartanburg, S.C., has agreed to buy Forest Commercial Bank in Asheville, N.C.

Regulators are pressuring banks to serve as deputies in their crackdown on online payday lenders. It's part of a broader push in which government authorities are holding bankers accountable for the activities of the third parties with which they do business. American Banker staffers discuss what’s at stake for the industry.

Banc of California (BANC) in Irvine has hired a group of bankers to lead its new correspondent lending group.