Economy

The Fed's annual dissection of each of the 31 largest U.S. banks is a painstaking and enormously complicated endeavor. This is an inside look at how it works.

Big banks are making critical risk management decisions with data that is old, incomplete or even inaccurate. This endangers the safety of the global financial system in more ways than one.

American retailers have struggled with mobile payments, largely because they try to reinvent the entire buying process instead of evolving what's already there. Starbucks' success is rooted in its willingness to take the easiest route time and again, an approach that is clear in how it chose to implement Apple Pay.

Google and Softcard have been fighting a long turf war to become the dominant mobile wallet for Android users. Softcard has finally conceded defeat, but Google still has much work ahead of it.

The Federal Housing Administration's recent premium reduction is undercutting the private sector and expanding the government's role in the housing market, housing finance industry representatives told a House subcommittee on Thursday.

Prosper Marketplace, an online lender for consumer loans, has found a new source of referrals: community banks.

The Obama administration's proposed bank tax would apply to all liabilities of large financial institutions — including their deposits. It's bad policy to tax the funding that banks use to make loans to consumers and businesses.

BB&T has received subpoenas from the Justice Department tied to a probe of the Winston-Salem, N.C., company's FHA lending.

One in three struggling homeowners who received a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program ultimately redefaulted on those loan.Meanwhile, the program that was supposed to help some 4 million families avoid foreclosure has helped only a fraction of that amount, according to a report presented to Congress.

By prosecuting executives responsible for banks' misdeeds, the DOJ can curtail illegal activity and restore public trust in big banks — and in the law itself.

Marketplace lending platforms like Lending Club still need banks to make the loans. Cross River Bank CEO Gilles Gade, who has deals with 14 platforms and has talked with dozens of others, explains the mechanics of these agreements in a Q&A.

Huntington had admired the finance firm for decades, but it was the Ohio company's Midwestern ties that helped it snag the unit from other suitors.

A more efficient, customer-friendly process for small-dollar commercial loan requests is a matter of competitive necessity for most community banks.

To stay ahead of the curve, business leaders must take advantage of every resource at their disposal, and many are looking outside the walls of their organization for new ways to spark the flame of innovation for the next big idea.

Host Card Emulation, the technology that allows contactless mobile payments without access to a phone's secure element, could bust the barrier that still lingers between mobile payments and loyalty.

Daunted by the challenge of how your bank can help underserved members of the community? Here are some simple tips and bits of wisdom from bankers, nonprofit leaders and local government officials.

OnDeck Capital, the online lender whose initial public offering raised eyebrows in December, posted a net loss of $4.3 million for the fourth quarter in its first report as a public company.

It's not quite too big to fail, but Ocwen is the country's largest servicer of subprime mortgages. So if it were forced to sell itself, or even failed, the transfer of some $410 billion in servicing rights could create havoc in the mortgage market, industry experts said.

With the economy recovering, Chris Hurn saw an opportunity to start another company focused on Small Business Administration 504 loans — his longtime specialty — and spread the word to business owners about the benefits of owning their facilities.

Google is buying some technology and intellectual property from the rival Android-based mobile wallet Softcard, giving Google a chance to finally put to bed several business problems that have plagued the company since it launched its mobile wallet in 2011.