National Bank Holdings in Greenwood Village, Colo., has created a specialty finance business to focus on middle-market companies.

Community Partners Bancorp in Tinton Falls, N.J. is getting a new name.

The Dodd-Frank Act's ban on pure commercial ownership of industrial loan companies is set to expire in July. American Banker editors discuss the pros and cons of allowing a commercial enterprise like Wal-Mart into the banking business at a time when the previous argument against doing so has been turned on its head.

Related article: War Over Retailer Banks Could Reignite, With or Without Walmart

Executives at Heritage Commerce and Pacific Continental on the West Coast and Texas Capital Bancshares are catering to niche customers and building market share close to home instead of taking grand steps to expand.

Small banks’ perch in small-business lending is being steadily eroded by large, credit-card issuing competitors.

More than 60% of the banks still remaining in the Troubled Asset Relief Program have been labeled "problem" institutions by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., casting doubt on their ability to repay the Treasury Department before the program is wound down.

Fiscal third quarter earnings at BofI Holding, the $2.9 billion-asset parent of BofI Federal Bank in San Diego, rose 37% from a year earlier, to $10 million or 74 cents a share.

Monarch Community Bancorp (MCBF) in Coldwater, Mich., plans to raise $16.5 million through a private placement. The $197 million-asset company has hired two investment banks to lead the placement, Monarch said Tuesday. The offering is contingent on Monarch's completing a transaction with the Treasury Department to retire the $8.2 million of preferred stock it issued through the Troubled Asset Relief Program at a discounted price of $4.5 million. …

Firstbank (FBMI) in Alma, Mich., plans to redeem its remaining Troubled Asset Relief Program shares for $17 million.

Warburg Pincus Private Equity X, which owns just under 10% of Webster Financial, will sell its entire position in a secondary offering.

The board of NBT Bancorp (NBTB) 's board has made sweeping changes to the Norwich, N.Y., company's bylaws.

Shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo have been on a roll in recent days and the New York attorney general's pledge Monday to sue the banking giants did nothing to slow their momentum.

A growing number of community banks are working with Farmer Mac to offer loans at lower rates, helping them compete with Farm Credit institutions.

A bank cited by regulators for lending policies allegedly favoring minorities and women over white males is proof for some of just how frustrating it is for institutions to comply with fair lending laws.

A new paper commissioned by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, highlights risks community banks face from the Dodd-Frank Act.