Banking

A federal court has halted and frozen the assets of a nationwide credit card debt relief scam that allegedly stole millions of dollars from consumers.

Payment Alliance International, a Kentucky-based independent sales organization and ATM provider, has partnered with charitable fundraising firm Digital Processing Solutions to create a new "Digital Donations" program accessible through ATMs.

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. programmer who took the firm's high frequency trading code when he left for another job was exonerated a second time after a judge ruled what he did wasn't a crime.

Moody's managing director Will Black questions whether marketplace lenders, which generally don’t retain credit risk, have enough incentive to maintain the quality of the loans they're facilitating. He also praises the P-to-P firms for publishing detailed loan-level data.

Premier Financial Bancorp in Huntington, W. Va., has agreed to buy First National Bankshares in Ronceverte, W. Va.

The operators of a scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars from consumers by trapping them into loans they didn't authorize will be banned from the consumer lending business under settlements with the FTC.

While hiring a chief risk officer is a given at the big banks, smaller institutions must weigh several factors and options in determining the risk leadership model that works for them.

Twelve of the largest financial firms provided more information than they did last year in the public versions of their plans for breaking themselves up in a financial catastrophe, but whether they have done enough to reassure regulators won't be known for months.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y. has promoted Anita J. Nigrel to executive vice president and chief retail officer, a newly created position, effective Monday.

First National Bank of South Africa says the offering for its direct-deposit customers should give them one more disincentive to leave, beyond the usual hassles of switching financial institutions.

Wells Fargo and two other companies must repay customers more than $30 million in mutual-fund-related overcharges, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Monday.

The Detroit automaker's lending arm is teaming up with a peer-to-peer car-sharing app — a move that could foreshadow changes in how the industry underwrites auto loans.

First National Corp. in Strasburg, Va., has a new bank president. The $530 million-asset company said in a press release Monday that Dennis Dysart would also remain chief operating officer of First Bank.

National Bank Holdings in Greenwood Village, Colo., plans to repurchase as much as $100 million of its common stock.

Regulators in New York plan to crack down on high-interest loans made to military service members by closing a critical loophole.

Residential mortgage loans in active foreclosure that are at least two years delinquent experienced large gains in the last seven months, according to a new report.

There are plenty of opportunities for banks to collaborate with the tech startups that are driving rapid change in the financial industry. But first they need to find innovative ways to address systemic challenges like compliance as well as cultural differences.

Community banks that try to serve too broad an array of customers will wind up losing out to larger competitors. They would do better to focus on one or two customer segments and familiarize themselves with those groups' specific habits and needs.

Yadkin Financial in Elkin, N.C., will pay its former leader $2.2 million over the next year as part of an ongoing management transition.

At this year's EMERGE Forum in Austin, Texas, the Financial Solutions Lab — a $30 million, five-year initiative managed by the Center for Financial Services innovation with founding partner JPMorgan Chase — revealed the winners of a recent competition for apps that tackle consumers' cash flow challenges. The nine winning organizations, chosen from 298 applicants and 14 finalists, received a combined $3 million, along with mentorship, networking, peer learning and national partnership opportunities. The following is a look at their solutions to the problems of the working poor and others ill-served by traditional financial products.