The Fed's approval marks the first time a prepaid card company has been allowed to buy a bank. Fed Gov. Duke objected, warning that the deal was too risky.

BNC Bancorp in Thomasville, N.C., announced Wednesday that it would close four of the 10 branches it inherited last month when it acquired the failed Blue Ridge Savings Bank of Asheville, N.C.

Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) Inc., a Norfolk, Va.-based debt buyer, has formed a new subsidiary, PRA Professional Services LLC, to provide auditing and revenue discovery in the private sector.

Deutsche Bank AG on Tuesday signaled that it might sell large parts of its asset management division, saying the activities are under review as changes in the regulatory as well as competitive landscape and associated costs are affecting the business and growth prospects.

Mary Lynn Lenz will lose her job as CEO of Professional Business Bank after it merges with another California bank. In the bank M&A world, that's a compliment. More opportunities await turnaround artists like her in deals-rich California.

Big banks can win on price, but small banks say commercial lending is too attractive to give up on. Some community bankers are hunting for customers that bigger banks might discount and for loan officers displaced by M&A.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is buying a 4.7% stake in the London Metal Exchange from bankrupt broker MF Global Holdings for GBP25 million ($39 million), three people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Bridge Bancorp Inc. in Bridgehampton, N.Y., said late Monday that it will raise up to $10 million by selling common stock.

Consumer groups applaud agency's decision to allow more time for comment on Cap One's deal for the credit card portfolio of HSBC.

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Final bids for RBS Aviation Capital, the aircraft leasing business being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, are due in early December, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires on Monday.

Heightened regulation is forcing more bank buyers to overhaul their entire computer platform as regulators zero in on a greater need for compliance.

Banks and others involved in buying and selling loans have won some battles and lost others relating to Dodd-Frank implementing rules. The next fight is over how tough to treat the cash-loan market.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. in Providence, R.I., is eliminating underutilized branches and laying off dozens of employees across its 12-state market area as part of a broader effort to trim overhead and improve efficiency.

While B of A nips and tucks as it struggles to meet new capital requirements, JPMorgan Chase bemoans the severity of the rules from a position of relative strength, and hints at the rationale for the behemoths to dismantle themselves.

WASHINGTON — Regulators closed a bank in Louisiana, and another in Iowa, late Friday to bring the year’s failure total to 90.

The Barclays unit in charge of U.S. bank deals has overcome adversity, from the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 to the defection of some important talent last year, and worked on some of the notable deals of the year.

The federal government could avoid many unnecessary bank failures by making targeted preferred equity investments in community banks with a Camels 3 rating.

Stifel Financial Corp. is in exclusive talks to buy Regions Financial Corp.'s Morgan Keegan brokerage after prevailing over private-equity bidders, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Shareholders of Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. in Lititz, Pa., and Tower Bancorp Inc. in Harrisburg, Pa., have approved the companies' proposed merger.