Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

A community banking trade group plans to lobby for less government regulation.

Large banks lag behind small banks when it comes to CD rates, according to a new report.

Is the proposal to increase business lending powers for credit unions a risk to the financial system?

A new report shows that small banks have embraced the new generation of banking technologies, but their account holders seem to be lagging behind.

While the status of Capital One’s acquisition of ING Direct remains on hold, the smaller players in the banking industry are voicing a concern over adding another member to the too-big-to-fail, or TBTF, club. At the Federal Reserve’s hearing about the proposed acquisition earlier this week, a representative from the Independent Community Bankers of America, or

For some community banks in Georgia, the past three years have marked a sour period in the Peach State. Over the Labor Day weekend, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed two small institutions, Cumming-based Patriot Bank and Woodstock-based Creekside Bank. The two closings bring the tally for bank failures in Georgia to a

One of the more curious carve-outs in the new financial reform law is an exemption that shields so-called “small” banks from the oversight of the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Specifically, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act gives the new agency extensive power and authority to regulate consumer financial products, but only

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., or FDIC, has closed 86 U.S. banks this year, three in the last full week of June. The biggest and most costly failures naturally get the most attention. Here, in Los Angeles, one biggie that failed earlier this year was First Regional Bank, which cost the Deposit Insurance Fund a