Big banks discovered they wrongfully foreclosed on more than 700 military members during the housing crisis and seized homes from about two dozen other borrowers who were current on their mortgage payments, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess report in The New York Times. The banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — found the foreclosures after regulators ordered them to examine mortgages as part of a multibillion-dollar federal settlement, according to people with direct knowledge of the findings.

“The analysis, which was turned over to regulators in recent days, provides the first detailed glimpse into the extent of wrongful foreclosures amid the collapse of the housing market,” Ms. Silver-Greenberg and Mr. Protess write. “While lenders previously acknowledged that they relied on faulty documents to push through foreclosures, the banks claimed borrowers were rarely evicted by mistake, including military personnel protected by federal law.” The new revelations “could provide fresh ammunition for Wall Street critics and prompt regulators to adopt a tougher stance.”

Banks had previously resolved claims of improper foreclosures on military members, but the problems have turned out to be more extensive than those cases indicated, raising questions about a deal that was finalized last week. “When regulators forced them to take a close look at their loans, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, the largest loan servicers, each discovered about 200 military members whose homes were wrongfully foreclosed on in 2009 and 2010, according to the people with direct knowledge of the findings. Citigroup had at least 100 such foreclosures. The foreclosures violate the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a federal law requiring banks to obtain court orders before foreclosing on active-duty members.”

AT JPMORGAN, SELLING THE HOME BRAND  |  Brokers in an elite group at JPMorgan Chase, who are central to the bank’s expansion into wealth management, work in a sales-driven culture that is unusually aggressive, Susanne Craig and Jessica Silver-Greenberg report in DealBook. “While financial advisers at other firms are typically free to offer a variety of investments, JPMorgan pressures brokers to sell the bank’s own products, according to the current and former employees. Several advisers who resisted said they were told to change their tactics or be pushed out.”

HSBC PROFIT FALLS  |  The British bank HSBC said on Monday that profit fell 17 percent last year, in part because of a fine to settle money-laundering charges. The bank reported profit fell to $13.5 billion in 2012 from $16.2 billion in 2011, missing analysts’ expectations. HSBC’s shares fell in early trading in London, as the bank also missed its own target for return on equity.