Retail & Commercial

FirstMerit's deal for Citizens Republic in Michigan sent a message that acquisition prospects in Chicago are weaker than first thought — and deal forecasters back to the drawing board.

Fannie Mae has named the former chief litigation counsel for Pfizer (PFE) as its general counsel and corporate secretary.

While deposit-driven financial institutions, at best, could use small-dollar loans to bring in customers who would later purchase other products, installment lenders have been successfully serving underserved communities for close to 100 years.

Though banks have always measured customer satisfaction, there is a greater focus now on understanding exactly what drives the customer experience and how it can help the bottom line.

BNCCorp (BNCC) has reversed a portion of the valuation allowance against its deferred-tax assets, which will result in an $8.8 million net benefit for the Bismarck, N.D., company.

Bankers' banks are evolving into trusted advisors to small banks just a few years after a pair of high-profile failures pared their ranks and damaged the group's credibility.

D.A. Davidson, a Portland, Ore., investment bank has recruited two bank M&A advisors in Chicago, Stephen Nelson and Eugene Katz, from rival Hovde Financial.

American Express said it has hired Erich Ringewald, the former chief technology officer of Boku, to be its vice president of software product management.

As branch traffic shrinks and the need to improve customer service grows, video-equipped ATMs are catching on. But is a small location with a video connection and non-existent staff a branch?

Apple may be waiting to bring mobile payments to the masses, but MasterCard is forging ahead. The card network announced this week a software toolkit to help turn any Near Field Communication enabled Android or Blackberry smartphone into a mobile wallet.