Bank channel

After pleading guilty to an investment scam that defrauded 34 clients out of over $700,000, a former Merrill Lynch advisor was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday.

Bank of America is rumored to be considering selling its 34% stake in BlackRock, according to The Wall Street Journal. Now the question is whether the bank is looking to get out of asset management altogether.

Illinois regulators closed the $493 million-asset Palos Bank and Trust Co. late Friday, the 110th failure of the year.

The week after Wells Fargo announced the closing of its storefront subprime lending unit, Citigroup's CEO delivered an impassioned defense of keeping alive his similar operation.

Nearly 1,200 banks have been hit with an enforcement action made public by federal regulators since the start of 2008, and that number is expected to climb at an accelerated rate.

The ramifications of a federal court's order for Wells Fargo to repay $203 million in overdraft fees extend far beyond the price tag one company has to pay for its California operations.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced on Tuesday that it hired Rory Tapner as CEO of its Wealth Division.

Even as they begin dropping credit ratings as a supervisory source, regulators signaled Tuesday they are worried about abandoning their use altogether, suggesting that potential alternatives are not much of an improvement.

P&C leads bank-holding-company insurance sales upward in a soft market’s sixth year.

A gust of stock offerings is expected from community banks, some bracing for heightened capital standards, others seeking to repay government capital and a few chasing acquisitions.

The 2008 crisis accelerated changes in how bank customers want to interact.

Illinois' failure tally for 2010 continued to grow late Friday with the closure of $265 million-asset Ravenswood Bank.

Several banks are actively looking to expand in the Georgia capital, viewing it as a market that will inevitably rebound from its malaise of the past three years.

Mini-prime broker Lighthouse has notified its 22 hedge fund clients that they can no longer execute new orders.

Since Howard Hammond joined Fifth Third Securities four years ago as president and CEO, hiring new advisors and management and shifting to a full service relationship-driven advisory model has been his top priorities. And it’s paying off-performance has improved over the last 18 months, with total revenue up 35% in 2010 from 2009.

New rules curbing the amount of alternative investments banks can hold aren't the only thing driving private-equity spinoffs. Improving market conditions are also making it easier for investment professionals to strike out on their own.

Young, Stovall and Company lost Eileen Lamchick and Susan Rutrough to a Raymond James unit in Miami.

HSBC Holdings PLC's North American arm still isn't adding much to the company yet, but it has reduced its consumer finance losses to the point where it is no longer weighing down its parent.

Saving money is back in fashion, and banks are taking notice.

Five bank closures in four states Friday cost the federal government an additional $334 million in losses.