Banking

Activist investor Joseph Stilwell is threatening to fight yet another proxy battle against Harvard Illinois Bancorp.

Payfone joins Google, Verizon, and other players who would like to be the gatekeepers of consumers' digital personas. The newcomer to the banking industry hopes its relationships with the four major telecom providers will give it an edge.

Deborah Wright, who is set to retire as Carver's CEO at year-end, says the New York bank is preparing new products to reach underserved parts of the city. While she says community development banks should merge, Carver has no immediately plans to roll them up.

NCR Corp. has installed what it calls the first-ever automated teller machine in Somalia.

Bank directors and officers who agree to settle claims brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in its capacity as receiver may find themselves next confronting a lifetime ban from the industry.

Tax authorities all over the world are making decisions on how to view the new and increasingly popular decentralized digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

MasterCard is investing in and partnering with card technology company Dynamics to embed greater function into U.S. payment cards, a mission that has sputtered in past years.

Companies seeking to shield valuable data from criminals and government spying should assume the attackers have already penetrated their systems and adjust defensive strategies, security firms McAfee and Symantec said.

Banks would have to upgrade their systems to accommodate faster transactions, and originating banks would pay the receiving financial institutions a fee to cover those costs, under a plan from Nacha, the industry group that sets ACH rules.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released its semi-annual report to Congress. The report includes a review of the complaint process and collection industry rules.

M&T Bancorp in Buffalo, N.Y., has once again delayed its planned purchase of Hudson City Bancorp in Paramus, N.J.

Centrue Financial in Ottawa, Ill., has sold $35.2 million in classified loans and other assets.

John Grayken, the billionaire who made his fortune betting on troubled borrowers, has joined the bidding for Citigroup's subprime-lending arm, OneMain Financial, people familiar with the matter said.

Banks that collect their own debt are certain that the CFPB plans to ratchet up its regulation of their activities. But it's unclear how the CFPB plans to do this, and some question whether the bureau has the authority to do it at all.

Amid huge regulatory pressure to strengthen anti-money-laundering controls, banks are grappling with a shortage of compliance talent.

Fannie said it will immediately begin accepting applications for fixed-rate 97% loan-to-value financing of borrowers with FICO scores as low as 620. Freddie, meanwhile, took a more cautious approach, delaying the start of the program, requiring credit counseling, and in some cases only allowing FICO scores as low as 660.

With some proposals still outstanding, mortgage bond market participants are concerned that eminent domain attempts would spread if a municipality makes inroads with a proposal.

Commonfund, an investment management firm in Wilton, Conn., has hired Catherine Keating as its chief executive.

fTLD Registry Services, an entity originally formed by The Financial Services Roundtable and the American Bankers Association to secure top-level domains for the banking and insurance industries, has contracted Symantec to provide verification for the newly created .bank and .insurance web domains.