Banking

Birmingham Bloomfield Bancshares in Birmingham, Mich., has redeemed its shares in the Small Business Lending Fund and exited the program.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has hired Fiserv as core processor and it plans to record a $1.4 million charge to cover the vendor switch.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are telling lenders that they are willing to retain loans with defects if they believe the defects are minor and can be fixed. But Freddie is one-upping Fannie by offering to retain such loans without charging lenders a fee.

BankMobile attracted 100,000 users in its first year and with the acquisition of a couple of business lines from collegiate servicer Higher One it is projecting it will have 2 million by July.

American Banker predicted these five community bankers would make news in 2015, and they did not disappoint. Some pursued M&A, one went public, and one even helped break up his bank.

We revisit some of the best comments readers posted in 2015. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com and BankThink.com articles, except where noted.

WASHINGTON — The Bancorp Bank in Wilmington, Del., has agreed to pay $4.3 million on charges brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that the prepaid card issuer deceived consumers.

A Massachusetts law firm allegedly used unfair and deceptive practices to collect debts from hundreds of thousands of residents in the state in recent years, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.

Directors at credit unions used to work for free, but that is starting to change — and it's rankling banking industry officials who say it's another example of the nonprofit cooperatives mimicking banks without shouldering the same tax burden.

Lending Club, the nation's largest marketplace lender, announced Tuesday that it has raised interest rates on its new loans by an average of 0.25% in the wake of the Federal Reserve Board's recent rate hike.

The $3.9 billion-asset holding company for Busey Bank redeemed all its remaining shares in the program at a total redemption price of about $72.8 million.

Privacy advocates were appalled by the cybersecurity act Congress passed in the omnibus spending bill, with its abandonment of data-privacy provisions that existed in earlier versions. Now consumer and business-client privacy is at the discretion of the banks and other private companies.

Participants in an alleged credit card laundering scheme agreed to settle FTC charges that they illegally helped provide access to payment networks, enabling scammers to place bogus charges on consumers’ credit cards.

Existing-home sales plummeted in November, confirming fears in the mortgage industry that a new consumer disclosure rule is delaying mortgage closings.

Franklin Savings Bank in Franklin, N.H., has tapped its chief operating officer to succeed Jeffery Savage, when he retires as CEO next year.

Europe’s largest debt collector announced plans to make more acquisitions as it looks to build its presence in credit management services.

Another institution helped push New York Community Bancorp to add cash to its bid, a filing disclosed. While Astoria's board was concerned about NYCB's plans for an aggressive balance sheet restructuring and capital raise, management believed the other suitor's offer had more execution risk.

California Republic Bancorp in Irvine has securitized $380 million of its prime auto loans.

The Connecticut Department of Banking claims a Native American tribe in Oklahoma is running two illegal high-interest loan operations but the tribe has won a delay in its battle against the imposition of $800,000 in penalties.

Tri-Valley Bank in San Ramon, Calif., said that its largest individual shareholder is making a bid to double his stake.