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.

While the banking industry was recovering from a global financial crisis and reacting to the prospects of new regulations, smart entrepreneurs were finding new and better solutions to people's problems.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce closed the $50.2 million-asset 1st Regents Bank in Andover on Friday.

James Montgomery, a longtime bank executive who spent his life building financial institutions, has passed away. The 78-year-old passed away on Dec. 13 in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after suffering from health problems in recent years.

Plaintiffs' attorneys behind a group of wildly successful overdraft class action cases have been feuding over how to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars. The judge overseeing the litigation has called a timeout.

The CFPB issued rules Friday that ban compensation to mortgage originators based on loan terms, such as higher interest rates or a high-cost loan. The rule is meant to prevent lenders from steering borrowers into riskier loans for a higher payouts.

IMGCAP(1)]

The $3 billion-asset StellarOne of Charlottesville, Va., said Friday that it will buy a branch from the $508 million-asset Village Bank and Trust (VBFC) in Midlothian, Va.

A proposed startup bank would court the Amish, a community with "spectacular" credit ratings and proven business acumen. The founders may have to make some special dispensations, though.

FNB United (FNBN) in Asheboro, N.C., has created a commercial real estate group at one of its banks.

Capital One's fourth-quarter results and 2013 profit guidance disappointed investors, sowing doubts about the earnings power of its acquisitions of ING Direct and HSBC's U.S. credit card portfolio.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will require mortgage lenders to release free copies of home appraisals to borrowers as part of several appraisal rules released this week.