Economy

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has rejected a nonprofit housing group's allegations of racial discrimination against U.S. Bank. HUD found that the bank properly maintain foreclosed homes in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods and in some cases spent more rehabilitating the homes than in white areas.

The conventional wisdom is that MetLife is breaking itself up partly as a response to its designation as a systemically important company. But there is significant evidence that's wrong — here's why.

PayPal Holdings has named the head of a cryptocurrency firm to its board.

Community bankers and credit unions scored a significant victory while others in the mortgage industry lost out in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's final rule establishing membership standards for the Home Loan banks.

The insurance giant MetLife dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, saying it would separate a "substantial portion" of its U.S. retail segment, in part because of the current economic and regulatory environment.

MetLife plans to separate much of its U.S. retail business as Chief Executive Officer Steve Kandarian works to shrink the company to limit federal oversight.

The latest in BBVA Compass' ventures with fintech companies will bring it a simpler way to offer investment advice to the millions of households that typically don't qualify for it.

The agency scrapped a part of its 2014 proposal that would have required Home Loan bank members to maintain a certain percentage of residential mortgage assets in order to keep their membership. But it held fast on a provision that would disqualify captive insurance firms from membership.

Digital and alternative currencies are often cast as libertarian-friendly payment vehicles whose very mission engenders government antagonism. But in Canada, things are a bit friendlier.

Convictions of big banks have lacked any tangible consequences for perpetrators, leaving many still doubting that the government is serious about prosecuting large firms.

Fundation Group, an online small-business lender, has hired an industry veteran as its first chief operating officer.

Apple Pay is seeing a surge in U.S. bank support, with the number of participating banks rising past 900 with the recent addition of 60 regional and community banks, bringing it closer to full coverage in its home market. But Apple isn't having the same luck everywhere else.

M&A momentum is building, even among larger banks that have been sidelined for years.

Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, N.C., one of the largest 7(a) program lenders in the U.S. last year, has promoted Greg Thompson to chief operating officer.

Chase Commerce Solutions has sold its entire independent sales organization portfolio of accounts and associated contracts to First American Payment Systems.

Person-to-person payments are a sudden hotbed of innovation. Many banks and technology companies are rethinking their approach to P2P and finding ways to offer the service in a way that is genuinely appealing to the mobile generation.

But the strong demand for tax credits from those projects is also whittling down the investment returns as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by the New York-based accounting firm CohnReznick.

For all the attention nonbank fintech firms get, they still have a long way to go before winning over key customer segments, such as business banking customers.

A recent tax change will provide more stability to banks and developers that use the low-income housing tax credit program, and the supply of below-market-rate apartments should increase as a result. But it's not enough to create the economic incentives needed to meet skyrocketing demand for affordable housing in the U.S.

Maybe disruptors, not bankers, are the ones who need to worry about an abrupt paradigm shift. Though many bankers fear having fintech startups pick off the most profitable parts of their business, history suggests this "unbundling" of banks is a recurring, temporary phenomenon that is generally followed by a period of "rebundling."