Banking

The Fed said Tuesday that it terminated a written agreement with Progressive on Feb. 1. The agreement barred Progressive or its $136 million-asset ProGrowth Bank in Nicollet, Minn., from paying dividends or taking on new debt without approval.

U.S. Bancorp has promoted longtime executive Elliot Jaffee to head its commercial banking division.

Ally, the former lending arm of General Motors, reported earnings of $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter after a $206 million loss a year earlier.

Favorable views of market conditions gained momentum at the end of the year as lawmakers reached a compromise to stave off the fiscal cliff.

Smaller banks are beginning to see more revenue from service charges as they experiment with new fees and products.

With the price of farmland surging, demand from small farmers for guaranteed mortgages is also way up. Now banks want Congress to raise the cap on those loans.

First Horizon National in Memphis, Tenn., has expanded its dealings in municipal bonds.

Community bankers should continue to bolster lending despite challenges created by compliance with a host of new Dodd-Frank regulations, Federal Reserve Gov. Elizabeth Duke said Tuesday.

U.S. financial institutions may see their reporting burdens rise as a result of a law designed to prevent taxpayers from hiding funds offshore.

Improving the branch experience could fail to increase foot traffic, but will boost customer satisfaction, loyalty and, ideally, advocacy.

What did mobile wallets look like before Apple and its peers invented the consumer smartphone market and launched App Stores to distribute systems like Passbook, Isis and Google Wallet?

The credit bureau said it is aiding Cardplatforms in the roll-out of its prepaid cards, worldwide.

Flint Mobile updated its iOS app in late January to include new social marketing and customer management features.

The Treasury Department is planning to wind down its Troubled Asset Relief Program investments in six financial institutions by auctioning off approximately $358 million in preferred stock and subordinated debt investments.

On Saturday, the FTC issued a report calling for better privacy protection for mobile device users — and financial data is a primary focus.

An international crime ring created thousands of fake identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards and steal more than $200 million, the Justice Department said.

LOS ANGELES – The Justice Department’s suit against Standard & Poor’s targets several failed credit union deals among the more than two dozen collateralized mortgage obligations, or CDOs, the Wall Street agency allegedly rated falsely, causing two of the biggest credit union failures ever, WesCorp FCU and Eastern Financial Florida CU, the only two credit unions authorized to buy CDOs.

An international crime ring created thousands of fake identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards and steal more than $200 million, the Justice Department said.

Woodforest National Bank in Woodlands, Texas, has promoted Julie Mayrant to president of its retail operations, according to a news report.

Amazon.com Inc. today announced plans for Amazon Coins, a virtual currency for its Kindle Fire tablet.