Banking

The latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report found that total outstanding credit card balances increased by 4.3% in Q3 2014 from Q3 2013. It signals the second consecutive quarter of significant annual growth and it constitutes the highest growth rate observed since Q4 2008.

Before the CFPB imposes new rules on overdraft fees, it should consider whether restricting consumer access to this feature could drive people to more expensive alternatives like payday loans.

Citigroup has been fined $15 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to supervise research analysts and their handling of material nonpublic information.

Mike Hagedorn, president and CEO of UMB Bank, talks about how his company's strong fee revenue helps it compete on loan pricing, and whether the bank could return to M&A after years on the sideline.

Banks and regulators aren't the best judges of what constitutes a clear and transparent disclosure form. The CFPB could fix the problem by holding a contest that asks professional designers to create models that convey important information in a way that consumers can understand.

Online lenders from OnDeck to Lending Club are forming partnerships with traditional financial institutions, prompting some observers to wonder if they might one day be willing to become banks themselves.

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Millennial women are making great strides in the workforce, but still "channel their inner ninth grade insecure freshman when it comes to financial matters," according to Fidelity's head of personal investing.

MidWestOne Financial Group in Iowa City has agreed to buy Central Bancshares in Golden Valley, Minn.

The Federal Housing Administration could finally get something it desperately needs: upgrades to its outdated technology infrastructure. But industry groups object to the new fee being proposed to generate the necessary funding.

Giving roughly 5 million immigrants at least temporary relief from deportation could conceivably ease lenders' and borrowers' qualms about mortgages to undocumented workers who qualify with individual taxpayer identification numbers.

MUFG Union Bank will close 20 branches of the former Frontier Bank in Washington state.

The acquisition of CapitalSource has pushed PacWest's capital from full to overflowing. With diminished interest in M&A, the Los Angeles company recently doubled its dividend, while analysts expect management to award a special payout in the future.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

The growing influence of nonbank companies poses a danger to the financial system, and perhaps a national security threat, BB&T's Kelly King says during a wide-ranging conversation among big-bank CEOs.

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has expanded its student loan-refinancing program to include more options for shorter loan terms.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was fined 56 million pounds ($88 million) by British regulators for the 2012 collapse of its computer system that left millions of customers without access to their accounts for weeks.

Target Corp. is asking a federal judge to throw out claims by banks that had to deal with the consequences of a data breach that compromised at least 40 million credit-card accounts.

The defendants in a federal court action brought by the Federal Trade Commission agreed Thursday to stop running an advance fee recovery scheme for the duration of the ongoing litigation.

WASHINGTON — Promontory Financial Group announced Friday that it had given financial awards to two small institutions that are expanding banking access to the underbanked.