The price of Bitcoins listed on the Bitstamp Ltd. exchange plunged as much as 33 percent after charges were unsealed for the operator of an online marketplace for drugs and other illicit goods.

WSFS Financial (WSFS) recently launched its fifth annual pet photo contest. Customers and others submit snapshots of their furry friends, like this one last year from Courtney Heal in Newark, Del., of Bruno, an 8-month-old Great Dane, and his playmate, 22-month old Braedon.

The monitor of the national mortgage settlement plans to force the five largest servicers to fix billing and communications problems that have plagued homeowners and been the subject of tens of thousands of complaints.

Southwest Bancorp is merging its banks in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas into one national charter under the new name Bank SNB.

Some areas of the country are enjoying hot bank-deal markets while others are stone cold-including some over-banked ones. Robert Barba, American Banker's Chicago-based M&A reporter, explains what's behind the numbers.

Franklin Synergy Bank in Franklin, Tenn., is planning to raise money from institutional investors as a prelude to a public offering.

TotalBank in Miami, Fla., has given President Luis de la Aguilera the additional job of chief executive.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has hired the head of a nonprofit that promotes business in developing countries to lead its charitable programs.

The $126 million-asset company expects to be eligible to deregister because its common stock has fewer than 300 shareholders, according a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Monarch Community Bancorp (MCBF) in Coldwater, Mich., has raised $16.5 million in a private placement that will allow it to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

First Community Financial Partners in Joliet, Ill., has repurchased a large chunk of shares from private investors that acquired the shares from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Carrollton Bancorp's main private-equity backer, Eric Hovde, the president and chief executive of the Hovde Private Equity Advisors, is joining its board.

BOK Financial (BOKF) has agreed to acquire GTRUST Financial, an independent trust and asset management company in Topeka, Kan.

Consumer advocates pressed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday to crack down harder on credit card issuers despite recent regulations that largely curtailed hidden fees and predatory practices.

Hanmi Financial (HAFC) in Los Angeles has hired a handful of banking executives from rival Korean-American lender BBCN Bank (BBCN).

Two of the oldest nonprofit credit counselors plan to merge, in a move that would create the second-largest such organization in the U.S.

Georgia Commerce's agreement to buy Brookhaven Bank in Atlanta is a sign that it is becoming more financially advantageous to sell out instead of raising capital, especially in a recovering market like Georgia's.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that U.S. regulators don't want to harm community bankers still ailing from the financial crisis.

For banks, the government shutdown is little more than an inconvenience so far. But they will surely feel its impact if it stretches on for days or weeks. Here's what they might expect.

Bank buyers should run potential deals by regulators early to avoid "landmines" and speed applications, officials from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency say. Proper due diligence, succession planning and risk management are among the things they look for.