Banking

Criminals who once focused on email fraud are turning to text messages and phone calls to trick bank customers. Fraudsters are also using social media and Big Data to learn more about their consumer and commercial targets.

Flushing Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., has expanded its business banking operations to Manhattan.

Scammers are posing as lawyers from the New York Attorney General's office investigating consumers for overdue debts, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman warned Wednesday.

Stephen Platt, regulatory investigations consultant and author of "Criminal Capital: How the Finance Industry Facilitates Crime," explains his misgivings about the idea of a shared know-your-customer registry for the industry.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday examining regulatory relief for small banks and credit unions, kicking off what is expected to be a central debate this term over changes to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Hudson Valley Holding in Yonkers, N.Y., swung to a profit as it prepares to sell itself to Sterling Bancorp in Montebello, N.Y.

ACA International, DBA International and the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys are part of a coalition requesting that a key federal regulator address issues related to updating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to permanently ban a credit provider in Texas from offering any services because of allegations that it ran a "sham credit card" business.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued an alert Wednesday based on ongoing complaints from consumers reporting being contacted by scammers posing as an attorney from the AG's office.

Cheviot Financial in Cincinnati will soon have a new chief executive.

Bank of America plans to lay off 202 employees in a loan servicing unit in Norfolk, Va. because of the ongoing decline in the number of delinquent mortgages, the company said Tuesday.

The CFPB has a historic opportunity to fix the small-dollar loan market by emulating Colorado's reforms. That would mean requiring all payday lenders to offer affordable installment payments and cracking down on deceptive practices like loan flipping.

Premier Bancshares in Omaha, Neb., has agreed to buy Farmers Bank and Trust in Nebraska City.

Some brokerages aren't doing enough to protect themselves from cyberattacks while other firms don't share information that could reduce future threats, according to U.S. securities regulators.

Jeffrey Brown, suddenly elevated to CEO of Ally Financial, will have to accelerate the auto lender's diversification plan started by his predecessor, Michael Carpenter. Brown will need to explore new sources of originations, funding and investments.

Two community banks on Tuesday disclosed plans to raise capital by selling subordinated debt.

The Dallas-based subprime auto lender lowered its provision for losses in the fourth quarter even as delinquencies and chargeoffs continued to creep up.

Studying borrowers' credit characteristics and tightening quality control are more important to how mortgages perform than the size of down payments.

M&T Bank used hidden racial criteria to steer first-time home buyers into certain neighborhoods and particular lending programs, according to a housing group that sent women of various races to apply for loans.

The Federal Housing Administration's new foreclosure relief options for nonborrowing spouses of reverse mortgage customers will increase loan servicers' costs, and some question how many consumers they will actually help.