Bank of America may extend its search for a new chief executive into next year if its board is unable to pick a candidate in the next four days, according to a Bloomberg report.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America <BAC.N> may extend its search for a new chief executive into next year if its board is unable to pick a candidate in the next four days, according to a report on the Bloomberg News website.

Some U.S. Bank debit card customers now have access to the Visa Mobile application, enabling customers to manage their Visa accounts using mobile devices.

Woodmen of the World wants U.S. Bank to pay nearly $30 million for investing some of the insurer's assets in risky mortgage-backed securities that plummeted in value instead of the conservative investments the bank promised.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Bancorp <USB.N>, the sixth-largest U.S. bank by assets, is looking to expand its credit card business and is actively marketing its cards nationally, Chief Executive Richard Davis said at a conference on Tuesday.

Regulators have shut small banks in Georgia and Michigan, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 117 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans.

As CEO and primary shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), Warren Buffett, the world's most famous investor, has developed a well-known reputation of buying big stakes in companies he believes in. When Buffett buys shares of a company for BRK, the markets translate his moves as a vote of confidence for a firm's continued success. Although Berkshire Hathaway's holdings change, the company's most recent SEC filings* reveal where the Oracle of Omaha is most heavily invested. Here are the 15 publicly traded stocks, by value, that are the biggest holdings of Berkshire Hathaway.

Regulators have shut California National Bank of Los Angeles and eight smaller related banks as the weak economy continues to produce a stream of loan defaults.

U.S. authorities seized nine failed banks Friday, the most in a single day since the financial crisis began and the latest sign that many banks are still crippled by bad loans. U.S. Bancorp agreed to buy the banks, which include California National.

Not only have credit card companies continued to use practices that will be outlawed under a strict law due to take effect in February.

Many U.S. regional banks, including Fifth Third Bancorp and SunTrust Banks Inc, may not show a profit until 2011, veteran banking analyst Richard Bove said, and downgraded both the stocks to "sell" from "neutral."

When a U.S. bank fails, it is up to the FDIC to ensure the stability of the failed bank's assets and deposits so that customers won't lose out when their bank of choice goes under.

To do this, the FDIC can either arrange for the sale of the failed bank's assets to an existing financial institution or directly pay out the failed bank's deposits, as long as they fall within the FDIC's insurance limits. The former "Purchase and Assumption Method" is most commonly used, but requires the FDIC to find a willing buyer, and often must sell assets at a discount, which may potentially cause billions in losses to the FDIC fund.

Stocks finished lower after well-known banking analyst Dick Bove downgraded his rating on Wells Fargo.

Stocks advanced Wednesday as investors were encouraged by a few earnings reports, including Morgan Stanley, Yahoo and SanDisk. The VIX, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, dropped to just above 20.

Stocks opened lower Wednesday as a raft of companies beating earning estimates but failed to impress investors.