Banking

HopFed is fighting back against claims by Joseph Stilwell that its CEO is overpaid.

A Congressional Budget Office report commissioned by Democrats concludes that principal reductions in modifications of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would achieve more success if eligibility of the Home Affordable Modification Program were widened.

Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania (RBPAA) in Narbeth has ended a string of 18 straight quarterly losses.

Heartland will use Ingenico's software and experience with EMV-chip cards to help deliver new terminals and PIN pads in the U.S. as the country migrates to the EMV standard for payment cards.

The mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial (OCN) more than doubled its profit in the first quarter following a string of acquisitions that has substantially boosted its market share.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused 18 former officers and directors of the parent company of Midwest Bank with reckless practices that led to the Chicago-area bank's failure during the financial crisis.

MidSouth Bank of Tennessee recently deployed software to speed up the process for documenting and calculating the allowance for loan and lease losses.

A class-action lawsuit against the three major credit bureaus made headlines when a federal appeals court threw out a proposed settlement, but more noteworthy is that the suit itself led to major improvements in how they generate consumer credit reports.

For bankers, a well-designed customer interface is worth the money, according to a recent Forrester report.

American Banker Magazine Editor in Chief Heather Landy responds to the charges and examines the possible evidence of her own unconscious bias.

Small banks are pushing to be exempted from what they call an unneeded and overly burdensome data-collection effort to spot how consumers may be abused by checking account overdraft fees and other charges.

A pair of longtime foes, community banks and credit unions, oppose CFPB rules and — gasp — are even willing to team up in lobbying for exemptions.

OptifiNow, a maker of mortgage lending software, is rolling out a service to streamline paperwork and ease compliance.

Bank technology provider VSoft has agreed to resell services from payments processor First Data.

ATM operator Cardtronics USA has purchased the assets of Aptus Financial, an ATM servicer based in Portland, Ore.

Sterling Financial in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to buy Commerce National Bank in Newport Beach, Calif.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., has agreed to buy Prosperity Banking Co. in St. Augustine, Fla.

Most annual meetings take place at corporate offices, hotels or country clubs. Here is a list of some of the most unusual venues for this year's slate of shareholder meetings.

VeriFone has made several attempts to become a major player in mobile payments. A few months after altering its strategy with its second mobile card reader, the terminal maker says it is still learning.

D.A. Davidson has agreed to buy the Los Angeles broker-dealer and money-management firm Crowell, Weedon & Co.