Banking

Earnings at FirstMerit, the $14.6 billion-asset Akron, Ohio, bank rose 10%, to $34.9 million in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier, it reported Tuesday. Noninterest expense fell 6.4%, to $108.5 million, over the same period.

Lending to companies that service the federal government have historically been safe bets, but that could change if Washington is forced to make drastic cuts early next year.

Two consumer advocates who gave advance warning of the subprime mortgage crisis are now arguing that a responsible return to less-than-prime lending can work for lenders and borrowers.

Visa, delivering on its promise of greater issuer support for its V.me digital wallet, announced U.S. Bank as its latest partner.

Banks can retain their best and brightest staff by offering career advancement opportunities, competitive base salaries, adequate training and attentive performance management.

Kofax, a company that automates business processes for financial companies and other firms, has introduced an application that lets mortgage lenders capture information from borrowers by taking a pictures of documents with a mobile device.

Synovus Financial (SNV) in Columbus, Ga., reported a slight uptick in third-quarter income from a year earlier as its credit costs declined.

Attunity has partnered with Teradata to offer a data replication product for enterprise analytics.

Visa, delivering on its promise of greater issuer support for its V.me digital wallet, announced U.S. Bank as its latest partner.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters Group, which has claimed responsibility for recent cyberattacks on at least 10 banks, said Tuesday it would halt further strikes over the next few days in honor of an upcoming Islamic religious holiday.

The Mesa, Ariz. company said it is expanding a previous pilot that found success at several regional credit unions.

BBCN Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Pacific International Bancorp in Seattle.

Royal Bank of Canada, the nation's largest lender, agreed to buy Ally Financial's Canadian auto-finance and deposit business in a cash deal providing $4.1 billion in proceeds to Ally.

Want to sell your bank for the best possible price? It will pay to ride the merger wave early, dealmakers say.

A deal by TD Bank to buy Target's consumer credit card portfolio, which follows TD's acquisition of MBNA Canada late last year, will "significantly" expand the bank's card presence in North America.

Payments startup Chirpify, which had originally focused primarily on Twitter, is now letting people buy things on Instagram, too.

Target Corp. says it has reached an agreement to sell its consumer credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group.

Romney may have worded it awkwardly, but he has never expressed a more pro-female sentiment than when he talked about those "binders full of women." Oftentimes, you need to deliver the resumes of female candidates directly to the decision makers in order to promote gender equity.

Regions Financial said it is considering a public offering that could go toward paying off its trust-preferred securities.

Total System Systems, or TSYS, is reselling a new loyalty scheme that uses consumer-behavior data to shape individualized rewards.