Wells Fargo said it sold about $2 billion of private equity investments that it had taken on when it merged with Norwest 25 years ago. The sales are the latest piece of its effort to refocus on its core business, Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said Friday. Wells Fargo has also slimmed down its mortgage business and sold off businesses including its asset management arm as part of CEO Charlie Scharf's effort to rebuild the bank in the wake of its sales-practice scandal. The bank...

Shares of Better Home & Finance fell 93% on Thursday. The company had agreed to go public in 2021 via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, but the closing date of the transaction hit a lengthy delay. Better was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosed last year, but the company said this month that the regulator wasn't planning to bring charges. That lifted a cloud that was hanging over the deal.

Bank of America joined the fray with its second-quarter earnings this morning. Here are the highlights: The nation’s second-largest bank earned $7.41 billion, up 19% from $6.25 billion a year earlier. That amounts to 88 cents per share. Analysts expected 84 cents, according to FactSet. Revenue rose 11% to $25.2 billion. Analysts expected $24.98 billion. The bank added $256 million to its reserves to cover potential loan losses. “We continue to see a healthy U.S. economy that is growing at a...

Bank of America will pay more than $100 million to harmed consumers. Photo: kevin lamarque/Reuters Federal regulators hit Bank of America with a $250 million penalty for opening credit-card accounts in customers’ names without their consent and double-charging fees.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded 11 regional lenders Friday, suggesting higher interest rates and recent bank failures have ushered in greater instability. The downgrades hit lenders including U.S. Bancorp, with some $682 billion in assets, Zions Bancorp, with $89 billion, and Bank of Hawaii Corp., with $24 billion.