Strong loan growth sparked higher third-quarter earnings at Synchrony Financial, the credit-card issuer that was spun off from General Electric.

Amex posted third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates and raised its full-year forecast for profitability.

JPMorgan is continuing its push to snag wealthier credit-card users and gain market share.

Stores are realizing that they don't want to duplicate Starbucks' success.

Profits at U.S. Bancorp held steady in the third quarter as the Minneapolis company on Wednesday reported a mix of both higher fees and salary-related costs.

The investment bank will take "a very deliberate and methodical approach" to building its online lending platform, Chief Financial Officer Harvey Schwartz told investors Tuesday, implicitly drawing a contrast to once-highflying startups like Lending Club and Propser.

Regions Financial in Birmingham, Ala., reported a higher third-quarter profit, citing improved fee income from mortgage lending, capital markets and credit and debit cards. It also benefited from some special items and energy-market improvements.

Many startups have taken shots at traditional banking, but few have succeeded. However, there is plenty of promise in this model, according to investor Tim Young.

Consumers voted with their feet in September, as the embattled bank said Friday that new checking accounts were down by 25% from a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs' newly launched consumer lending website is aimed at some of the very same customers that big banks and marketplace lenders covet, yet there are plenty of questions about its business plan, its ability to manage credit risk and the prospects of online lenders in general.

The 1.35% delinquency rate was the lowest since at least 2001, and it marked nearly four years of delinquencies below the 15-year average of 2.21%.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express lost an early round of a lawsuit alleging they colluded to pin liability for fraudulent transactions on merchants who didn't meet a chip-reading technology deadline.

Capital One Financial plans to start issuing credit cards for the outdoor equipment chain Cabela's under a deal connected with the retailer's expected sale to Bass Pro Shops.

The U.S. Supreme Court will take up a free-speech clash with big stakes for retailers and credit-card companies, agreeing to decide the fate of laws in 10 states that limit how merchants can describe the lower prices they charge for cash transactions.

American Express can prohibit merchants from steering customers to credit cards with lower transaction fees, a federal appeals court ruled in a case involving about $50 billion of merchant fees annually.

In 2010, lawmakers passed reforms to bring transparency and competition to a swipe fee market that had been devoid of both. Now, they want to undo that progress.

Bankers may have a reputation for being old-school, but their rapidly growing digital-ad budgets are in step with the rest of the business world. Banks can both gather valuable demographic data from who clicks on their ads and better measure returns on their investments.

PNC Financial Services Group plans to increase consumer lending with its current tilt toward commercial loans generating lower overall loan yields.

While the retail lobby won in the political arena and successfully decreased its costs through price-fixing, the biggest loser in this situation was the American consumer.

New credit card accounts at JPMorgan Chase have grown by double digits thanks partly to its embrace of borrowers with lower FICO scores, but it sought to reassure investors that credit quality has suffered only slightly.