Banking

The Independent Community Bankers of America is taking issue with Wall Street's opinion that banks need scale to survive. The group has urged members to tune out "defeatist talk" about smaller banks.

Regulators slammed Bank of America on Wednesday with their toughest enforcement action to date on shady marketing and billing practices for add-on products like identity protection, forcing it to pay $772 million in restitution and fines. But Consumer Financial Protection Bureau officials indicated more actions are on their way.

Online small business lender Kabbage has received $270 million in financing from institutional investors.

CertusBank has terminated its top executive team, effective immediately, the $1.7 billion-asset bank announced Wednesday.

The Michigan company has pledged $1 million to help people buy homes in the Marygrove College neighborhood. Homeowners can get up to $25,000 and have $5,000 shaved off the balance each year they live there.

Two companies that operated as consumer-reporting agencies settled charges on Wednesday that they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

If regulators really want banks to invest more heavily in their communities then they should consider giving banks some reward, such as reduced deposit insurance premiums, for achieving a top CRA rating.

Continuing its expansion in Michigan, Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) in Columbus, Ohio, has agreed to purchase 11 branches in the eastern part of the state from Bank of America (BAC).

Electronic document and signature technology developer IMM will begin offering e-vault capabilities through an integration with transaction management software provider eOriginal.

Armed with $19 billion in fresh capital, the loyalty vendor is planning a major expansion at a time when small banks and credit unions are eager to beef up their debit rewards programs.

For big banks, good first-quarter earnings news is likely to be in short supply. In addition to struggling with the usual suspects — weak loan demand, more regulation — they have a number of institution-specific issues to contend with. American Banker editors discuss.

A debt settlement company and its owner on Tuesday pleaded guilty in federal court to mail and wire fraud charges. Money bilked from 1,200 people helped pay nightclub expenses, luxury car leases and credit card bills.

Old Second Bancorp (OSBC) in Aurora, Ill., has raised $59.4 million through a public offering.

Risk is again emerging as a concern in the consumer credit sector as the economic recovery moves into its fifth year, according to a survey of bank risk professionals.

Lakeland Financial (LKFN) in Indiana has a new chief executive.

A devastating security flaw in the internet could bring added risks to banks' online and mobile apps.

Late payments by credit card customers are finally rising, while delinquencies on home equity loans are at their lowest level in six years, according to a new report.

National Bank Holdings (NBHC) in Greenwood Village, Colo., is losing its executive in charge of acquisitions.

Bank holding companies earned a record $3.4 billion from the sale of annuities last year, up 9% from a year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday by Michael White Associates of Radnor, Pa.

The nationwide trade group for community banks is asking the Department of Justice to suspend its push to keep questionable merchants out of the mainstream payments system, arguing it is impacting community banks' competitiveness.