Banking

Efforts to overhaul the mortgage finance system are gaining momentum, but key logistical hurdles remain as lawmakers prepare to return from the August recess.

Allowing online fraud to happen is one of the surest ways a bank can lose its customers' loyalty, according to a recent survey.

Bitcoin Ventures Inc.'s new CoinTap allows consumers to obtain bitcoins by purchasing a stored-value card in retail stores.

Recognition by a market-based standards organization such as ISO, in the form of a three-letter code, would set the stage for increasing market depth and liquidity of bitcoin trading – in turn facilitating overall consumer and merchant adoption.

Easier access to credit helped boost small businesses' optimism in the third quarter to its highest point since the recession began, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The chief operating officer of Northrim BanCorp (NRIM) in Anchorage, Alaska, has resigned because of health issues.

Litchfield National Bank is readying a mobile app designed to educate young children about money. The Illinois community bank is taking a big step beyond its past outreach practices, such as distributing coloring books.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., has joined with a factoring company to provide funding to small businesses.

The very customer banks should be looking to for future loan and deposit growth receives more solicitations from AT&T or Sprint than she receives from her own bank.

Government authorities say that 70 million Americans are either underbanked and unbanked. Yet many of these people are well served by the financial system. American Banker staffers discuss whether the issue of the financially underserved is overblown and if so what may be behind the trend.

American Express topped a new J.D. Power survey, and Capital One was No. 1 in a separate study, but there was a common theme in their rankings: clear disclosures and applications make customers happy.

Several money transmitters are offering their state licensing portfolio to emerging payments agents, allowing them to get to market quicker — but startups lose some autonomy if they go this route.

Fannie Mae used its authority over Bank of America's sales of mortgage-servicing rights to resolve a bitter dispute involving mortgage repurchases, the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency says.

WASHINGTON — Regulators have officially gone back to the drawing board in trying to implement Dodd-Frank Act restrictions on securitized mortgages.

The former chairman and chief executive of Summit Bank in Burlington, Wash., on Wednesday pleaded guilty to hiding millions of dollars in losses from past-due loans.

Wells Fargo (WFC) is laying off 2,300 mortgage jobs nationwide as the result of flagging demand for mortgage refinancing.

The Federal Reserve Board said it will appeal a judge's decision invalidating the central bank's interchange fee cap, while both the Fed and merchant groups asked for more time before the lower court ruling takes effect.

The group unveiled a new white paper Wednesday that outlines two alternative proposals for integrating affordable housing into the larger mortgage finance reform debate.

Banks and credit unions will have the chance to test their defense plans against cyber attacks in an annual simulated security exercise offered by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC).

Despite better-than-expected returns so far, industry observers believe that the Treasury Department will take larger haircuts at is unloads less desirable stakes in banks.