Retail & Commercial

Bob Braswell of Carolina Bank in Greensboro, N.C., gave the mayor and city council an earful after tiring of a bitter funding dispute.

Bankers often complain about regulatory intrusion into the free market, but the industry enjoys a host of subsidies. A recent IMF report showing the largest banks get an implicit subsidy to their funding costs equal to their entire profits was just the latest example. From the FHLBs to FHA, from Fannie and Freddie to the FDIC charter, all banks receive some degree of government support and protection from competition.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has fired back at attempts by representatives of the former Lehman Brothers to link its collapse with the so-called Whale.

The $36.5 billion-asset parent of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico said Friday it would sell nonperforming commercial and construction loans for $347 million to a group of investors that includes Perella Weinberg Partners.

Rising real estate values, a dearth of inventory, historically low interest rates and an abundance of capital that needs to be deployed by institutional investors are all factors spurring bulk loan sales.

Rhoda Altom and Deborah Gavin will join the boards of Washington Banking and its $1.7 billion-asset Whidbey Island Bank in Coupeville, Wash., the company said Thursday.

Union First Market Bancshares (UBSH) in Richmond, Va., is set to begin a share repurchase program.

Bank of America's (BAC) precrisis sales of mortgage-backed securities are under investigation by the New York attorney general.

Taking inventory at the branch, right down to the office chairs, gets a radiopowered reboot.

Regulators shouldn't be managing banks, says a former bank supervisor for the Minneapolis Fed.