Banking

Birthdays. Pet names. No matter how often banks preach the importance of online security, some consumers still insist on using passwords that are as easy to hack as they are to remember. With mobile apps, fraud risk is often accompanied by frustration among users who are forever fat-fingering data on tiny alpha-numeric keyboards. Following are five ways that banks are aiming to make the mobile log-in experience safer and more user-friendly.

Northwest Bancorp. (NBCT) in Spokane, Wash., has raised $12.5 million after selling common stock and issuing subordinated notes and warrants.

The several wearable computing rings being developed have been well-received, but the small devices could have hardware limitations that keep them from widespread use as a payments tool.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking a strong stance against lenders that use contract clauses that block consumers from going to court in a report due out Thursday that will likely lead to new regulations.

EverBank (EVER) in Jacksonville, Fla., is laying off 302 employees, or about 7% of its workforce, as it quits the business of servicing defaulted home loans.

Walter Investment Management (WAC) has bought $30 billion of mortgage servicing rights from an unnamed bank.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council on Wednesday issued final guidance aimed at helping, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions manage risks related to social media.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday released its final rule defining what constitutes a "qualified mortgage."

Price caps on debit card swipe fees were supposed to spell the demise of free checking accounts, but new research from the Kansas City Fed reveals otherwise.

A number of Wells Fargo (WFC) customers experienced problems with their online bill payments late last month as a result of technical issues.

Toronto-Dominion Bank surpassed Royal Bank of Canada as the country's largest lender by assets for the first time after a decade-long expansion in U.S. consumer lending.

Senate Banking Committee leaders reiterated their optimism Wednesday for forging a bipartisan housing finance reform plan, but offered little additional detail on when legislation will emerge.

Small-business loan approval rates by both large and small banks jumped in November, rebounding from an October lull in which the government shutdown caused a backlog in applications.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will pay $100 million to state and federal regulators to settle allegations that it violated sanctions on doing business with Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and Cuba.

There may well be too many banks in the United States. That’s a problem for stock investors and CEOs of publicly traded banks to address, not policymakers.

Buyers in Texas show little interest in strugglers like Omnibank in Houston, leaving the door open for a buyer like Bank of the Ozarks from Arkansas that knows how to acquire and fix broken banks.

JPMorgan Chase's recently published patent application for a free online payment system offers some hints about the bank's future payment plans.

Barclays PLC's African unit is equipping tellers with iPads and offering customers mobile apps as the bank tries to win back market share by stepping up lending in the face of slowing growth in South Africa.

MasterCard Inc. said its board of directors approved an 83 percent dividend increase and a 10-for-1 stock split.

The Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase framed his bank's record-setting $13 billion settlement as a business decision — but acknowledged that he now has work to do to repair ties with Washington.