Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has agreed to pay $410 million to settle lawsuits accusing it of charging customers with excessive overdraft fees, court documents show.

The largest U.S. bank by assets is among the more than two dozen U.S., Canadian and European lenders named as defendants in the class-action litigation, which in 2009 consolidated lawsuits filed across the country.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) are among the other defendants named in the case… [Read the full story...]

U.S. regulators began their most forceful attempt yet to clamp down on bank bonuses since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, and warned firms they would seek to counter attempts to circumvent the reforms.

While the proposals pale in comparison to similar restrictions in Europe, the talk of keeping a keen eye on loopholes indicates regulators want to get tough on banks… [Read the full story...]

In some markets, commercial-property values have soared more than 30% from their lows in 2009, according to one industry gauge. For properties such as marquee apartment buildings in New York City and office buildings in Washington, D.C., values are even approaching pre-crash levels.

Last week, a Washington building that had been the headquarters of the Mortgage Bankers’ Association sold for $101 million—just a year after the trade group sold the 10-story building for $41.3 million. Even in… [Read the full story...]

In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of $135 billion.  The total is up 5.7% from $128 billion in combined compensation and benefits by the same companies in 2009.

The increase was fueled by a revenue rebound as the financial crisis recedes in the rearview mirror. At 25 large financial firms that have reported full-year results, revenue rose to $417 billion, another all-time high, even though… [Read the full story...]

The media and the credit reporting companies have done an excellent job promoting the notion of having a good credit score, almost too good a job because people seem to think that their credit score is the most important aspect of their financial life. Getting out of debt is secondary. Saving for retirement is secondary. It is almost as if when you have that perfect credit score of 720 or higher, then your life will suddenly become perfect. The advertising is working because even though everyone in the U.S. can order their credit report for free, every year millions of people are going to services that cost them $36 a year to get their “free”… [Read the full story...]

There is concern that the reason spam sites are showing up higher than the original content they are reproducing is because Google is letting it happen.  Perhaps even making it happen… [Read the full story...]

Senior executives at JPMorgan Chase expressed serious doubts about the legitimacy of Bernard L. Madoff’s investment business more than 18 months before his Ponzi scheme collapsed but continued… [Read the full story...]