Economy

Democratic presidential fron-trunner called for tougher reforms on Wall Street and harsher penalties for financial misconduct, but avoided more aggressive positions embraced by other candidates to break up the biggest banks.

Banking experts are starting to look into cryptocurrency tech, and they are hedging their bets by finding uses for both the public blockchain models – like Bitcoin – and private models.

Zapp is racking up bank and merchant participants for its mobile payment venture in the U.K., filling the gap left by the telco-led Weve initiative and providing scale as Apple Pay launches.

The PayPal of today has come a long way from the 1998 startup that enabled people to transfer funds between Palm Pilots. As the company nears its spinoff from eBay, it is continuing its acquisitive streak with some transformative purchases.

While the Federal Reserve and other regulators extended the deadline for some parts of the Volcker rule, July 21 is the deadline for all banks to have a compliance regime in place.

The Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., convened a hearing where he and others criticized the Financial Stability Board for its lack of accountability and influence on U.S. regulators.

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley is calling for breaking up the biggest U.S. banks, revamping the Federal Reserve and pursuing criminal cases against financial institutions that have broken the law.

As Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew defended the legacy of the 2010 reform law, in another part of the capital a banker and Republican lawmakers pleaded for legislative changes.

Digital-only Atom Bank in the U.K. recently won a banking license — a feat U.S. fintech entrepreneurs have either failed to accomplish or not bothered trying, instead partnering with established institutions.

The Federal Housing Administration wants to set a hard deadline for servicers to file claims on soured mortgages. Industry executives say it should be manageable — unless foreclosures surge again.

Payment Alliance International, a Kentucky-based independent sales organization and ATM provider, has partnered with charitable fundraising firm Digital Processing Solutions to create a new "Digital Donations" program accessible through ATMs.

MetLife and its allies are pushing back against the Financial Stability Oversight Council. But it's well worth imposing additional regulatory costs on large nonbanks if doing so helps prevent another crisis.

PayPal is putting a lot of effort into ensuring that the company that emerges from eBay ownership this month is a much different — and more powerful — creature than the one it has been until now.

Twelve of the largest financial firms provided more information than they did last year in the public versions of their plans for breaking themselves up in a financial catastrophe, but whether they have done enough to reassure regulators won't be known for months.

First National Bank of South Africa says the offering for its direct-deposit customers should give them one more disincentive to leave, beyond the usual hassles of switching financial institutions.

There are plenty of opportunities for banks to collaborate with the tech startups that are driving rapid change in the financial industry. But first they need to find innovative ways to address systemic challenges like compliance as well as cultural differences.

As wearable devices like the Apple Watch gain an audience, banks and retailers are exploring ways to make the most of this new style of consumer technology. But a number of hurdles stand in the way.

BOK Financial has hired Glenn Brunker to oversee mortgage operations and manage the bank's transition to a new federally-required consolidated mortgage disclosure regime.

After it all but stopped making real estate and development loans following the housing crash, Farmers & Merchants Bank has increased its real estate loans by more than 61% over the last two years. It's a figure that's likely to keep rising as California's real estate market heats up and the $5.6 billion-asset bank continues to add commercial real estate, construction and mortgage lending specialists to keep pace.

The agency's Semiannual Risk Perspective pinpointed compliance and operational risk as potential problems for big banks while it outlined a different set of challenges for midsize and community banks.