Economy

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to give the state's banking regulator the power to ban "bad actors" from working in financial services, allowing it to step in when federal agencies refuse to act.

F.N.B., Iberiabank and Simmons First are among the banks entering new regions. A growing need for scale and increased use of technology are among the reasons for their aggressive moves.

Regions Financial in Birmingham has named José S. Suquet, the president and CEO at Pan-American Life Insurance in New Orleans, to its board of directors.

The dominance of the sector by the Big Four accounting firms poses its own systemic-risk concerns and prompts questions about how other mega-companies are audited.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged Bank of America with discriminating against prospective Hispanic mortgage borrowers at a branch in Charleston, S.C.

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.

Kenneth Mahon, the new CEO of Dime Community Bank, wants to reduce the 152-year-old institution's multifamily exposure by diversifying into other asset classes. But finding new business amid already fierce competition could be an immense challenge for Dime — and other community banks — in 2017.

The Rural Housing Service is expanding its manufactured housing loan guarantee program to include more refinancings of used or existing manufactured homes.

The commercial-and-industrial loan space is overheated, higher rates could stifle mortgage refinancings, and subprime auto delinquencies are on the rise. Bankers could be fighting these fires and more in the new year.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Finance Agency is making it easier for Federal Home Loan banks to expand the kinds of collateral they can accept for advances.

The Department of Justice has agreed to a settlement with a pair of Cincinnati banks accused of redlining African-American neighborhoods in four cities in Ohio and Indiana.