Banking

Following the lead of other retailers, the National Retail Federation filed an appeal Jan. 2 of a U.S. District Court ruling to approve the years-long class action against the card brands that resulted in a $5.7 billion swipe-fee settlement.

CNB Financial (CCNE) in Clearfield, Pa., plans to sell up to $75 million in preferred and common stock.

Investors Bancorp (ISBC) in Short Hills, N.J., is set to complete its purchase of Gateway Community Financial in Sewell, N.J., next week.

Sandra Braunstein, the director of the Federal Reserve Board's division of consumer and community affairs, plans to retire on April 1, the agency announced Jan. 3.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and other companies have seen more than $200 million in sales in 2013 for computing components used to create Bitcoins, Wedbush Securities Inc. said.

Mackinac Financial (MFNC) in Manistique, Mich., has completed the redemption of stock originally issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Can the banking industry at least cool it with the footnotes?

J. Thomas May still believes community banks can thrive but executives must find new ways to engage customers, control costs and build scale.

A former chairman of UMB Financial (UMBF) in Kansas City, Mo., died Thursday.

Pathfinder Bancorp (PBHC) in Oswego, N.Y., has named longtime director Chris Burritt as its chairman.

In a mash-up of online banking, call center customer support and old-fashioned branch visits, Regions Bank is providing customers a web tool to schedule live meetings with its bankers.

A number of CEOs departed this year - voluntarily or otherwise. Some, like William Aichele of Univest, had been with their institutions for decades. Others, including Michael Tierney, had much shorter tenures.

A lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office against Nevada debt settlement company Legal Helpers Debt Resolution alleges the firm collected advance fees from customers but provided no services or help.

A U.S. district court has temporarily shut down a telemarketing operation that allegedly targeted Hispanic consumers with false promises that they could make money by reselling high-end goods such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren, and then charged them between $400 and $490 upfront for off-brand products.

While most gift cards are still made of plastic, digital cards are increasing in popularity among consumers because of the many options to customize the cards.

Is it time to abandon promotional pricing? Stop pursuing the underbanked? Link executive pay to reputation? Our ideas are sprouting like a pop-up bank branch.

Fidelity National Financial has closed on its purchase of Lender Processing Services, a provider of mortgage and consumer loan processing services and technology, FNF said in a press release Thursday evening.

Forget Times Square and champagne toasts. For the chief executive of American Savings Bank in Portsmouth, Ohio, New Year's Eve was all about courting business.

Regulators are hoping to release an interim final rule next week designed to satisfy banker demands to change a provision of the Volcker Rule that threatens to force smaller institutions to take millions of dollars in write-offs.

Square 1 Bank in Durham, N.C., has bought Sand Hill Finance, a finance company based in the Silicon Valley.