Retail & Commercial

Persistent low rates, fierce competition and lackluster loan growth will prevent most community banks from reporting blow-out earnings growth in the second quarter. Much of the profit likely will come from purges of bad assets.

The prospect of better spreads at Oriental Financial Group trumps the hit to book value under its $500 million agreement to buy BBVA's unit in Puerto Rico.

The Government Accountability Office put new pressure on the agency to make a decision after months of foot-dragging.

Regulators are taking a hard look at payday lending practices, and that could give banks an unprecedented edge over storefront operators.

Merchants may feel overwhelmed at the abundance of new payment technologies, and they are understandably worried about investing in the wrong one. Terminal vendors are hoping to address those fears.

A little more than a year after saving a struggling Kansas thrift, the owners of a Chicago mortgage firm have been awarded two large grants to relocate the thrift's headquarters to the Windy City and open a large loan production office there.

In a report released Thursday, the Government Accountability Office flagged concerns about the rising use of appraisal management companies as well as the government's oversight of the appraisal industry.

RAPID CITY, S.D. — NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz told credit union executives here yesterday the agency is very close to approving a charter for a credit union that will serve the Lakota Indians, also known as the Sioux, at their Pine Ridge Reservation in Kyle.

Though loan competition remains fierce, most banks are unwilling to relax their underwriting policies until the economy heals.

Much time and energy was spent on a campaign to regulate an optional service consumers could avoid paying for. Meanwhile, mortgage securitization was going gangbusters. Priorities were perhaps misplaced.