U.S. Bancorp is beefing up its prepaid card business.

FICO has acquired CR Software LLC, a provider of collections and recovery services for credit issuers, collection agencies, health care providers and other enterprises. Terms are not being disclosed.

The president and chief executive of Bar Harbor Bankshares (BHB) in Maine will retire in June. Joseph M. Murphy has held those positions at the company and its Bar Harbor Bank & Trust unit since 2002.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended November 24.

Taylor Capital, Standard Bancshares and Community Financial Services are in the process of raising $260 million, prompting calls that the consolidation of still overbanked Chicago will heat up next year.

Whether it's Warren Buffett's latest views on taxes or his missives to shareholders, market watchers hang on the billionaire's every word. His company Berkshire Hathaway's big stakes in Wells Fargo, Bank of America and American Express have spoken loudly about whom he favors in banking. Click to view highlights of his long, sometimes bumpy, history with banks.

Lingering credit issues and a lengthy CEO search had led some industry observers to wonder if the Mississippi bank might sell itself. The decision to hire the former president of a successful Texas bank might put those rumors to rest.

Bruce Lee will step down as its chief credit officer for Fifth Third Bank (FITB) in Cincinnati, for personal reasons, at the end of the year, the $117 billion-asset company said Monday.

The $8 billion-asset subsidiary of Northwest Bancshares (NWBI) said Wednesday it would buy The Bert Company, which operates an employee benefits and property and casualty insurance firm known as The Bert Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pa.

First State Community Bank in Farmington, Mo., which has done several M&A deals in recent years, benefits again as B of A and smaller banks look to streamline their operations.

Willing sellers have pretty much replaced failed banks among targets with less than $1 billion of assets. Volume has perked up in other size classes simultaneously.

State Street, the third-largest custody bank, said Edward Resch will retire next year as chief financial officer after more than a decade in the role.

Ovation Holdings will acquire two branches in southwest Florida from Liberty Bank, as the Iowa thrift seeks to exit Florida.

M&A could leave Chicago with 100 banks in seven years; rural banks in Midwest fetch better prices; and some large banks may have to shrink, say Stephen Nelson and Eugene Katz of D.A. Davidson.

A dedicated line to Ray Davis' Portland, Ore., office is just another retail touch that helps the bank distinguish itself from competitors.

Residential Capital LLC won court approval to sell its mortgage-servicing unit to Ocwen Financial (OCN) for $3 billion after putting off a fight with loan investors and resolving other objections.

Approximately 86 percent of hospital and health system executives said bad debt accounts for more than 2 percent of their total cost of services, according to a new survey.

Scotland-based collection agency and debt buyer Mackenzie Hall Ltd. has been awarded a Consumer Debt Collection Agency of The Year award.

Northfield Bancorp (NFBK), a mutual holding company in Avenel, N.J., is taking the final step in its conversion to a fully public company.

A unit of Heartland Financial USA (HTLF) in Dubuque, Iowa, has completed its acquisition of First Shares in Platteville, Wis., for $10.9 million.