Banking

A former chief executive of First Community Bank has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for running a mortgage-fraud scheme that cost the Hammond, La., bank millions.

Mortgage lending activity was weaker than expected in the first quarter and the result is likely to be slimmer profit margins for a number of banks, according to Paul Miller, a managing director at FBR Capital Markets.

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Milan-based mobile point-of-sale startup Jusp has secured $6 million in an initial round of funding for its chip-and-PIN mobile card reader, which it plans to launch in Italy.

Baseball players are told from an early age to keep our eye on the ball. In credit card banking, we should be told to keep our eye on the "spend."

Thomas Brouster believes the capital could make an acquirer out of a company that he once pegged as seller.

CEO Wayne Patenaude wants to double the mutual thrift's mortgage originations over the next four years while continuing to devote resources to commercial lending.

Bond Street Holdings has offered jobs and merger-related payouts to two Atlantic Coast Financial (ACFC) executives — but not the president and chief executive — once the Florida companies complete their deal.

Disruptions like Bitcoin can cause massive value destruction and massive value creation.

Central Bancshares in Muscatine, Iowa, plans to consolidate three of its bank subsidiaries under one charter.

Look beyond the hype about the price of this digital currency. Because Bitcoin's not just a currency, it's also a payment system, and as such a budding challenger to PayPal, Western Union, Visa, MasterCard, and perhaps banks themselves. Whether the currency is a pot of gold or fool's gold is beside the point, argues Executive Editor Marc Hochstein. The real potential of this technology is as a set of pipes for transmitting value.

PXT Payments, which operates the mobile payments and rewards app "looped in," is partnering with Boston College-based startup Jebbit for a student-focused marketing program that combines mobile payments and gaming.

The Canadian government has hired BMO to provide integrated travel and expense management services, in partnership with MasterCard and corporate services provider HRG.

A Missouri court has found that a bank provided the right security to prevent wire transfer fraud, and the customer who declined to use it must eat the loss.

Thursday's cyberattack on Wells Fargo — the second the company has acknowledged in nine days — rendered its online and mobile banking inoperable for roughly six hours and continued a wave of denial of service attacks that also has hit JPMorgan Chase, BB&T, American Express and TD Bank in the past three weeks alone.

Regions Financial is sharpening its focus on small business. The Birmingham, Ala., company said late Thursday it has named Joe DiNicolantonio to head a new division that will offer banking, loans and advice to companies with sales up to $20 million.

The JOBS Act will allow broader marketing of private placements. Take great care when selling these to your bank's financial advisory and wealth management clients. Focus on what suits them.

The ongoing adoption of the EMV chip-card standard in the U.S. means credit and debit card issuers will have to consider new factors to offer the cards at their branches.

Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen criticized the aborted independent foreclosure reviews on Thursday, condemning the expenses of consultants involved in a process that the Fed helped set up.

WASHINGTON — A Senate Banking subcommittee will examine the role of independent consultants in the financial services industry, including Promontory Financial Group, at a hearing next week.