Bank channel

Bank life insurance sales soared to a record high in 2010, although sales declined sharply in the fourth quarter, the first quarter over quarter decrease in seven quarters, according to the fourth quarter 2010 Kehrer-LIMRA Life Report.

Speaking at the annual ICBA convention, Ben Bernanke assured community bankers the Fed will attempt to protect them as it finalizes its rule capping debit interchange fees.

Dodd-Frank laid out a plan for applying separate supervision for the largest, most complex financial companies. Congress ought to do the same for the simplest and the smallest.

Several years ago, Grant Rawdin passed on the chance to become a charter shareholder in National Advisors Trust, a trust company owned by a registered investment adviser and designed to serve advisers nationwide.

FDIC chairman Sheila Bair received not one but two standing ovations from the ICBA, a week after she was heckled by members of the industry's other main trade group.

Many big banks have been stepping up their philanthropic efforts, zeroing in on efforts to combat the devastating effects of the recession — but not necessarily with dollars.

The reinstatement of the dividend was a surprise given that execs had been saying for weeks they didn't expect the company to start returning capital to shareholders until 2012.

Optimism reigns in the bank brokerage world, according to the first annual Kehrer-LIMRA 2011 Predictions Survey.

Supporters argue the new agency has unprecedented power that needs to be checked, but others contend the GOP simply wants to undercut an agency it never liked to begin with.

How can advisors take advantage of opportunities created by limitations on fees and transactions? Program managers at BISA’s bank broker-dealer breakout session presented some interesting answers. “Banks are struggling with where to get more revenues because of fee reductions,” said Rob Comfort, head of Huntington Investments. “This gives us an opportunity to play a prominent role.” …

Despite a powerful earthquake, a deadly tsunami and growing alarm about nuclear fallout, it has mainly been business as usual in Japan for Citigroup.

Bankers are divided over the seriousness of a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that would repeal Regulation Q and allow banks to pay rates for demand deposits.

Although Sheila Bair and the ABA have often been at loggerheads over regulatory reform, the distance between them was never more apparent than during her last address to the group.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s retirement services unit is generating significant new business, much of it from existing clients of the bank.

Consumers crave more ease in their experiences with banks, and they claim it's worth $2.6 billion to them.

TD Bank's redesigned checking lineup is widely varied but has a common thread — for five of its six new accounts, paper statements can cost a dollar a month.

LPL announced on Monday that it will move all Uvest bank brokers from Pershing to LPL’s self-clearing platform.

Mutual fund sales, brokerage business drive growth.

More adept now at tapping capital, a small but significant number of community banks in the hardest-hit states like California, Georgia and Illinois are escaping from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Due diligence reports from the securitization boom could worsen the financial industry's litigation headaches — and conceivably expose some firms and individuals to criminal charges.