Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks.

Ford Motor Credit is rolling out a pilot program that allows small groups of people to lease a vehicle together.

Valley National Bank in Wayne, N.J., has a new chief administrative officer.

Chris Bauer, who navigated Anchor BanCorp through bankruptcy and an IPO, will stay with Old National in an unspecified role. Old National, meanwhile, has added Wisconsin to the list of states where it is looking for acquisitions.

Mary Kay Bates, who had been chief operating officer in January 2014, was promoted to president of the $724 million-asset bank in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

The latest in BBVA Compass' ventures with fintech companies will bring it a simpler way to offer investment advice to the millions of households that typically don't qualify for it.

It took seven years, but the U.S. credit-card business has finally bounced back from its post-crisis hangover.

Unpaid utility bills owed by 680,000 residential electric and gas customers in Pennsylvania totaled $315 million in 2014, according to the state Public Utility Commission (PUC).

Bridgewater Bank in Bloomington, Minn., has agreed to buy First National Bank of the Lakes in Orono, Minn.

Many emerging innovators want to incorporate digital advances into the incumbent financial services sphere, not necessarily leapfrog banks.

The agency scrapped a part of its 2014 proposal that would have required Home Loan bank members to maintain a certain percentage of residential mortgage assets in order to keep their membership. But it held fast on a provision that would disqualify captive insurance firms from membership.

Digital and alternative currencies are often cast as libertarian-friendly payment vehicles whose very mission engenders government antagonism. But in Canada, things are a bit friendlier.

City officials in Longview, Texas are planning to review placing restrictions on “credit access” businesses such as title and payday loan outlets. City council officials will discuss the plan on Thursday.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., has agreed to buy Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin in Madison.

Consumers increasingly fell behind on their payments in several loan categories in the third quarter as economic growth cooled.

Raising capital has been tough for community banks ever since the financial crisis, especially the smallest ones. But a few firms have developed structured products that offer banks a chance to band together to raise needed Tier 1 capital at relatively low cost, while avoiding the regulatory ire that befell trust-preferred securities.

Fundation Group, an online small-business lender, has hired an industry veteran as its first chief operating officer.

Old Fort Banking in Tiffin, Ohio, has sold a controlling interest to its employees. The Old Fort Employees Stock Ownership and 401(k) plan bought a 45% stake in Gillmor Financial Services, the holding company for the $471 million-asset Old Fort.

Following a new blueprint, card issuers are seeing returns on assets above 4% for the first time since before the financial crisis. How long the good times last will depend partly on how well the U.S. economy weathers turmoil in China and other markets.

DNB Financial in Downingtown, Pa., said its chairman and chief executive, William Latoff, has died. He was 67.