Preferred Bank in Los Angeles blamed its lower fourth-quarter profits on tax-related items.

PNC Financial (PNC) is teaming with one of the nation's top business schools to foster innovation in the financial industry.

HSBC (HBC) has promoted the head of its American arm to the company's top executive team.

The Columbus, Ga., company reported higher quarterly earnings, helped by a $800 million deferred tax asset, and quieted M&A talk for now.

PremierWest Bancorp (PRWT) in Medford, Ore., took a loss in the fourth quarter as it sought to remove dead wood from its balance sheet.

Valley Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will get an assist from its parent after facing a capital shortfall.

Penalty fees fell 8% among credit card issuers last year. The fees have declined since 2009, when Congress passed legislation that limited the ability of card issuers to impose certain charges.

A breakup perhaps has never ended so well as when the local investors bought out Capitol Bancorp's majority stake in three Colorado banks more than two years ago.

Flathead Holding Co. of Bigfork, Mont., has entered into an agreement with regulators to bolster its capital.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces the task of determining how the 2009 credit card reform law has influenced the cost of credit. Its conclusions will likely offer clues to its future rulemaking and spur further clashes between bankers and consumer advocates.

Higher fees powered PrivateBancorp (PVTB) in Chicago in the fourth quarter. The $14.9 billion-asset company's earnings rose 163% from a year earlier, to $20 million.

Federal regulators are partnering up to take a close look at whether banks provide collections agencies with sufficient evidence to back up demands that consumers repay debts. The action could result in a revamping of the multi-billion dollar business.

Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) in Marietta, Ohio, reported increased profit despite a shrinking net interest margin.

FirstMerit (FMER) in Akron, Ohio, posted stronger quarterly results largely because of higher fee income and lower expenses.

Federal regulators have hinted they'd like to toughen the rules governing the way banks collect delinquent consumer debt. Making them stick would likely prove challenging.

Santa Cruz County Bank of Santa Cruz, Calif., reported higher quarterly profit because of balance sheet growth.

Higher overhead weighed First Bancorp of Indiana down in the fourth quarter.

Regions Financial (RF) reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates as its net interest margin, a gauge of lending profitability, widened.

Synovus Financial posted stronger fourth-quarter earnings after it recaptured substantially all of the value of its deferred tax asset.

Citigroup's Michael picks a team much like him, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau weighs in on force-placed insurance and banks release good-news, bad-news earnings reports.