When I am asked "How do we get bank customers back into the branch?" my answer is simple: How would you get them back into a Borders or Blockbuster store?

Rep. Jeff Clemens of Florida has introduced a bill that would make it illegal for banks operating in the state to charge customers monthly fees for using their debit cards.

Steve Antonakes, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's head of supervision, said the agency will rely significantly on policies developed already by the banking regulators. But the focus of exams will be quite different, however, as the CFPB makes consumers their top priority.

S&T Bank in Indiana, Pa., said Monday that it is launching a mobile banking system that allows customers to access their accounts via text, the Web or through an app on iPhone, Android and Blackberry.

The big banks keep getting bigger, but that has not stopped some community banks from growing deposit market share, even in cities where big banks are dominant. Community banks posted gains in New York and Hartford, Conn., and maintain top spots in cities such as Kansas City, Mo., and San Antonio, Texas.

Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle said Monday that it had completed its purchase of six Charter Bank branches and $254 million in deposits in New Mexico.

People's United Financial Inc. in Bridgeport, Conn., has hired a former Sovereign Bank executive to lead the expansion of its asset-based lending business.

Intervest Bancshares Corp. in New York said Monday that its third-quarter earnings rose 4% from a quarter earlier, to $2.6 million.

Consultant and former California regulator Walter Mix quantifies the damage from Dodd-Frank and explains why 2,700 banks could disappear over the next three to five years.

Eagle Bancorp Inc. in Bethesda, Md., has hired Virginia Navas Heine to oversee its commercial and industrial lending.

State regulators closed three banks along the East Coast and one in Illinois on Friday night, bringing this year's failure tally to 80.

State regulators closed three banks along the East Coast late Friday afternoon: Blue Ridge Savings Bank in Asheville, N.C.; Piedmont Community Bank in Gray, Ga.; and First State Bank in Cranford, N.J.

Under pressure from investors to improve its performance, HF Financial Corp. in Sioux Falls, S.D., announced Friday that it is replacing its longtime Chairman and Chief Executive Curtis L. Hage, effective immediately.

L.A. team produces hilarious parody of Warren's populist candidacy, and the portrayal of the creator of the CFPB may help the Massachusetts Senate candidate.

Sellers of leveraged bank loans want to draw institutional investors into an arena in danger of losing its traditional buyers.

First BanCorp. in San Juan, Puerto Rico said it had brought on as its nonexecutive chairman Roberto Herencia, who had been the president and chief executive of Midwest Banc Holdings in Melrose Park, Ill., from 2009 to 2010.

BancFirst Corp. in Oklahoma City reported a third-quarter profit of $12.6 million, up 6.7% from the same period in 2010. Earnings per share rose 8%, to 81 cents, beating consensus analysts' estimates by nine cents.

Buoyed by improved asset quality, Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., said Friday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled from the same period last year, to $41.5 million.

The board of Cardinal Bankshares in Floyd, Va., issued a letter defending the company and management after an activist investor threatens to defy the establishment.

The economic pain inflicted on millions of citizens and businesses by the collapse and eventual bailouts of some of Wall Street’s largest financial firms reveals why community banks should continue to distinguish themselves from systemically risky financial firms.