Economy

American Express has prevailed in its latest round of legal sparring with the Justice Department.

Weakness in the energy sector and a surge in new construction are pushing up vacancy rates at offices and hotels, leading to a spike in delinquencies on loans tied to them. The safer bet, bankers say, is lending on industrial properties.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Jan. 12 on the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

2016 was very good to these financial services executives, who succeeded where others failed, sold their businesses for large sums, felt the love of regulators or could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Any method for unwinding too-big-to-fail institutions that tries to avoid bailouts is a fool's errand. A more effective path may be reducing the size of TBTF banks or regulating them as utilities.

Loan modification activity has fallen dramatically at national banks over the past year, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

F&M Bank Corp. in Timberville, Va., has acquired Valley Southern Title in Harrisonburg, Va.

First Midwest Bancorp will move its headquarters to Chicago from Itasca, Ill., next year. The $11.6 billion-asset company will open an 80,000-square-foot office in the spring of 2018.

Proponents of "recap and release" misread the political risks and the depth of interest that key lawmakers have in determining the long-term future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A group of central bankers has postponed its planned meeting to review the details of the final capital and governance standards outlined in the Basel III accords, offering little explanation except that "more time is needed" to complete the rules.