Webster Bank is holding a “one-stop shopping” Home Buyer Open House with bank officers on hand to assist with pre-qualification for mortgages and local realtors on-site with area listings, according to a press release from the bank. more

Coastway Community Bank opened a prototype retail branch on Comstock Parkway in Cranston on Jan. 28. The branch is intended to be the first of multiple locations for the design, which uses traditional materials of brick, stone and glass. Pictured from left, from Vision 3 Architects: Joseph Caldeira, project manager; Keith Davignon, principal; Andrew Hausmann, architect; and from E. Turgeon Construction Corp, Christopher Ducharme, principal, and Peter Abbenante, project manager. more

The U.S. isn’t expected to return to full employment for at least six more years, and the consensus in Washington seems to be that President Barack Obama’s administration has no options to improve that dreary outlook. more

During the month of March, Washington Trust is collecting peanut butter for Rhode Island food banks to help fight hunger in the state, according to a press release from the bank. more

BOSTON – A survey by the Mass. Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation found that Bay State consumers can save money by shopping around for low-cost checking accounts. more

Banks may finally be succumbing to the pressure from developments in technology to transition more fully from paper checks to electronic payments, James Gifas, head of RBS Citizens Treasury Solutions said in a press release. more

The Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin has fined Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank Akteingesellschaft $17.5 million for failing to disclose conflicts of interest. more

ROCKLAND, Mass. – Independent Bank Corp., the parent company of Rockland Trust, has been recognized as the best community bank headquartered in Massachusetts, on Forbes’ list of America’s Best and Worst Banks 2013. more

FORT WORTH, Texas – Oppenheimer & Co. agreed to pay about $2.9 million to settle claims by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts attorney general that it misled investors in a private-equity fund, Bloomberg News reported last week. more

A former member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently asked me to co-sign a letter urging a federal oversight body to refrain from taking regulatory action normally left to the SEC. I refused to sign. more