Banking

Bank of Commerce Holdings in Redding, Calif., is selling its stake in its namesake mortgage company three years after becoming its co-owner.

Business activity in the banking sector increased in July for the second straight month, according to industry executives surveyed for American Banker's latest Index of Banking Activity.

Citigroup will let customers challenge the suspension of home-equity loans and provide $120 apiece to some ex-borrowers whose credit lines were cut, under the settlement of a lawsuit challenging its practices.

It's tempting to blame China and Eastern Europe for bank-targeting malware. But more than half comes from within our own borders.

A study conducted by Discover's PULSE network finds that issuers are encouraging customers to use PIN at the point of sale now that the Durbin Amendment's interchange cap has made signature transactions less profitable.

Banks will need to start using legal entity identifiers — Social Security numbers of sorts for business customers — by March 2013. Some are far from ready, observers say.

Square has stolen the spotlight — after convincing Starbucks to switch to Square for processing, the mobile-payments vendor gave other merchants the option to accept cards for a flat $275 monthly fee. How can a rival mobile-pay provider compete?

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Friday that it has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise the fees they charge lenders on loan guarantees in hopes of creating more private-sector competition in the secondary loan market.

Credit union membership rose to a record 93.1 million in the second quarter even as the total number of credit unions dipped below 7,000.

A small number of alternative financial services providers would be permitted to operate nationwide and on the Internet without adequate policing of their products for underserved consumers.

Codorus Valley Bancorp (CVLY) is warning investors about higher credit costs a month before its third quarter will end.

LevelUp now offers an app for Windows Phone users that want to use its mobile point of sale payment system, allowing merchants to accept payments from consumers without paying transaction fees.

The acquisition will more than double the assets at C1 Bank, which has been an active acquirer in Florida since receiving backing by a group Brazilian investors.

Banks and the GOP, mortgage relief and more.

Dodd-Frank, aimed at restoring confidence in the so-called Wall Street banks, had a devastating effect on Main Street banks, and is now threatening their long-established role as the backbone of the American Dream.

A common criticism of daily-deals providers such as Groupon and LivingSocial is that merchants using those services generally don't always receive return visits or sufficient data to use in designing long-term customer-loyalty plans.

Ray Davis, the CEO of Umpqua Holdings, bounces back from his failed attempt to buy American Perspective in central California with a $25 million agreement for Circle Bank in Northern California.

Credit unions are giddy about a new NCUA rule that says advanced video terminals can be counted as full-fledged service facilities, providing a new way to compete with banks by attracting members in underserved areas.

A number of de novo banks, or those that are seven years old or younger, are facing long delays from regulators when it comes to amending their business plans to allow for bigger growth targets.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) has agreed to buy Griffis & Small, an energy advisory firm in Houston.