Retail & Commercial

The Seattle mortgage lender's agreements to buy two small banks would give it more commercial lending expertise and put it in the company of other banks like Sterling Financial and AmericanWest that are engaged in M&A-driven makeovers.

Legislation to reform the Federal Housing Administration sailed through the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, but the bill's future, along with that of broader, comprehensive mortgage reform, remain up in the air as Congress prepares to break for the August recess on Friday.

A federal judge's ruling on the Durbin Amendment is likely to cost the banking industry billions of dollars each year.

Center Bancorp (CNBC) in Union, N.J., has named a new chairman for its bank. The $1.6 billion-asset company also announced Wednesday that it had made its interim chief financial officer permanent.

More banks are planning to sell or spin off businesses because of Basel III, shareholder pressure and other forces, according to the Institute of International Finance and EY.

MasterCard reported profit that beat analysts' estimates as spending on credit and debit cards rose. The shares climbed.

The rapidly growing Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has split its commercial and retail banking operations.

Bankers must do a lot of homework when a vendor is sold in order to prepare for the transition and potentially take advantage of the change.

RBS Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has become the latest banking company to use plain language to describe its checking account policies and procedures.

Sovereign Bank will change its name to Santander Bank and spend $200 million to upgrade branches and roll out an advertising campaign.