Retail & Commercial

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

The nation's biggest mutual thrift has endured litigation, activists' protests and a check-kiting scandal at Roma, a thrift it is trying to buy.

Senior executives at JPMorgan Chase and TD Bank predict that the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," will put some of their health care clients out of business but provide extra M&A advisory work.

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit in federal court to halt a mortgage relief scheme that allegedly deceived and preyed on distressed homeowners by charging them $2,000 to $4,000 based on bogus foreclosure rescue claims.

MasterCard Inc. asked the European Union’s highest court to overturn a regulatory decision on transaction fees that ended its ability to set rates on cross- border credit-card payments.

Community Bank Shares of Indiana in New Albany recorded a nearly $1 million charge in the second quarter for a failed-bank acquisition.

First Merchants (FRME) in Muncie, Ind., had healthy competition in its effort to buy CFS Bancorp (CITZ) in Munster, Ind.

Pathie McKee, the chief financial officer of ViewPoint Financial (VPFG), will step down on July 31. She will remain as a consultant through yearend, the Plano, Texas, company announced Wednesday.

The Chicago Transit Authority is planning an August launch for its new fare system that will allow retail and fare payments from the same card.The open standards fare system is called Ventra and was developed through a partnership between Cubic Transportation Systems, MasterCard and First Data. With it, Chicago transit riders can pay for fares on the city's elevated trains (called the "L"), buses and subway that are all operated by the CTA, as well as suburban bus line fares for routes operated by a separate transit authority called Pace.

Mortgage disclosures and supervision of non-bank entities will be top concerns for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as it enters its third official year of operation, according to its semi-annual rulemaking agenda released Wednesday.