Economy

Signs of optimism are growing for acquisition, development and construction loans as banks hone strategies in a market transformed by the crisis.

Starbucks and American Express are both using cross-merchant rewards to boost their own volume, but with a very different philosophy driving each company's program.

A Senate bill passed late Thursday provides additional funding but it also requires enhanced reporting on lending and credit quality from SBA. The measure is headed to the House.

The bankruptcy of Wingspan Portfolio Advisors epitomizes the existential crisis facing default servicing. This once-thriving sector of the mortgage industry now finds itself declining in lockstep with the drop in loan delinquencies and foreclosures.

PayPal's gotten off to a rousing start as an independent company, but Visa CEO Charlie Scharf doesn't appear to be worried.

Starbucks now handles nearly nine million mobile transactions each week in its U.S. stores, representing 20% of sales and more than double the figure it reported two years ago.

The debate about how big a bank needs to be before it poses a threat to the economy heated up again Thursday as lawmakers battled over the $50 billion threshold imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act.

The SBA's popular 7(a) program has reached its maximum funding authority. Banks may have to decide on providing short-term aid to small businesses that face delays getting loans.

Regulators and lawmakers are wrong to focus on bank size as a measure of risk. A far better indicator of bank stability is the riskiness of a bank's assets, as well as which of the bank's sources of funding bear that risk.

Republican lawmakers continued their legislative attempts Wednesday to require more transparency from the Federal Reserve Board and force the central bank to more accountable to lawmakers.

Just a day after the Dodd-Frank Act's fifth anniversary, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby launched a new attempt to make significant changes to the law, attaching his regulatory relief bill to legislation that would provide funding for financial services agencies.

The Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said the housing market recovery has shifted to "a higher gear," and it raised its forecasts for total originations and home purchases for this year and 2016.

Bankers were pleased with the dramatic leap in home lending last quarter, but they cautioned that volume will slow in the second half as rate increases curb refinancings, nonbanks provide stiffer competition, servicing costs remain high and underwriting standards change.

Despite recent changes to the Financial Stability Oversight Council's systemically risky designation process, Senate Banking Committee members feared that once a designation is made, there is no way for a company to remove that label.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday for a measure that would extend a temporary 10-basis point hike in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees for an additional four years.

A fifth of the financial institutions that participated in the Small Business Lending Fund have fully left the program and an increasing number of banks are joining them before the dividend rate jumps to 9% next year.

A growing number of regulators have indicated their support for raising the asset thresholds at which banks face new regulatory requirements. That's welcome news — but time is of the essence in implementing any changes.

Key proponents and critics of the 2010 financial reform law commemorated its anniversary by keeping the debate over its legacy front and center.

The new MBS program gives FHLB members direct access to the secondary market.

If Congress fails to act swiftly, most lending supported by the SBA will shut down for much of the next two months. This would undermine recent strength in a vital component of the American economy.