Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has expanded its health care practice banking group to three additional states.

The $127 billion-asset company said Wednesday that the unit, which works with medical, dental and eye care practices and professionals, is now making loans in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The health care division began making loans in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island last year.

"Given the size and importance of the health care sector and our track record of helping health care practices succeed and grow, our health care practice banking group is uniquely positioned to meet the special challenges and financial requirements of medical, dental and eye care practices," Quincy Miller, president of business banking for Citizens, said in a press release.

Citizens has added three lenders, with a combined 65 years of experience, to its health care banking team. They are: John K. Leister, who joins Citizens from 3-D Financial Services; Bryan T. Murphy, who was most recently managed dental and veterinary accounts for Bank of America; and Benjamin N. Foltz, a former health care lender at PNC Financial Services Group and Wells Fargo.

Many banks have been beefing up in health care lending of late as they look to diversify their loan portfolios and find new sources of revenue. Others include Regions Financial, Huntington Bancshares, KeyCorp, Pacific Continental in Eugene, Ore., and United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga.

Last year Citizens' parent company, the Royal Bank of Scotland, said it would spin off Citizens and use the proceeds from the sale largely to repay the British government for bailing it out at the height of the financial crisis. RBS filed for the unit's initial public offering in May. Citizens is expected to be fully independent by 2016.

Hampton Roads Bankshares has hired four lenders from Northwest Savings Bank in Baltimore to run its new commercial lending office there.

Hampton Roads has $2 billion of assets and is based in Virginia Beach, Va. Its Baltimore office will focus on commercial real estate and commercial and industrial lending, the company said in a press release Monday. The office will complement the Baltimore-based specialty finance unit that Shore Bank — a Hampton Roads subsidiary — opened in Baltimore in May, the company said.

Company executives are trying "to expand and broaden our presence in an attractive contiguous market," Chief Executive Douglas J. Glenn said of their plans for Baltimore.

Richard J. Hunt, Jr., will be president of the greater Baltimore market. Hunt has 25 years of commercial and retail banking experience with Northwest Savings and Provident banks. Michael G. Tilstra will be senior vice president for commercial real estate; he is a 30-year veteran of CRE and C&I lending who worked for Carrollton, SunTrust and Wachovia banks before joining Northwest Savings.

The other two hires are Keith M. Dukes and Ann-Marie P. Monroe, who will be senior vice presidents and client-relationship managers. Dukes has 40 years of experience at Northwest Savings, Carrollton and K banks; Monroe has been a banker for almost 30 years in various roles with Northwest Savings, Provident (later M&T) and 1st Mariner banks.

Hampton Roads Bankshares is the parent of The Bank of Hampton Roads, which runs banking offices in Virginia and North Carolina, and Shore Bank whose eight branches are located in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

NewBridge Bancorp (NBBC) in Greensboro, N.C., has hired six commercial bankers to run its new middle-market banking group.

The $2.4 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that its new division will focus on companies in North Carolina and South Carolina with annual revenue from $25 million to $250 million.

"We are excited to enter an attractive middle-market banking segment" by hiring lenders, Pressley Ridgill, NewBridge’s president and chief executive, said in the release. "With consolidation in the banking industry and the evolving strategies of the larger national banks, we feel the middle-market sector represents an underserved market segment."

The new hires at NewBridge follow restructuring-related job cuts earlier this year.

The team will work out of two offices. Michael McMahan, who was named director of middle-market banking group and treasury services, will lead the team from the Charlotte, N.C., office. His previous experience includes more than 20 years with Bank of America (BAC), and most recently, as an executive for a regional bank.

Thomas DeMint, 3rd, based in Greenville, S. C., was named head of the middle-market banking group in South Carolina and head of syndicated finance. His previous experience includes executive roles at Bank of America and Wachovia Bank.

Robert Beggs, Walter Bridgeman, Joseph Watkins Jr. and Mark Schuch will join McMahan at the Charlotte office.

Beggs, who has held various posts at Wells Fargo (WFC), will serve as senior relationship manager. Bridgeman, who was named head of treasury services, worked for nearly two decades with Bank of America and RBC Bank. Watkins, named director of product management for treasury services, and Schuch, who will serve as product manager for treasury services, have experience at Bank of America BB&T (BBT).

NewBridge said it plans to expand its existing middle-market banking team around Raleigh, N.C., where the company recently completed its $64 million acquisition of CapStone Bank. NewBridge,which has 40 branches, has said it could target other markets in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Zions Bancorp. (ZION) in Salt Lake City has added a former officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to its board.

The $55 billion-asset company said in a press release that Edward Murphy had joined its board. Murphy was chief financial officer of the New York Fed from 2005 to 2013. He also served as CFO of the retail division at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) from 2002 to 2004.

Zions has been working to provide an acceptable capital plan to regulators. The company resubmitted its plan in April after its original plan was rejected. Zions disclosed earlier this week that the Fed had requested two more weeks to evaluate the resubmission and that it now expects a response by July 28.

Solera National Bancorp (SLRK) continues to go through management changes less than a month after an activist took over the Lakewood, Colo., company's board.

The $168 million-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday that Robert Fenton had been named its interim president and chief executive. Fenton, who was terminated as Solera's chief financial officer in March, later allied with Michael Quagliano, the company's biggest investor, to oust the board.

Fenton replaced John Carmichael, who was removed from office on Monday. The company also disclosed that Andrew Seaton, chief credit officer at Solera National Bank, resigned on Tuesday.

Fenton is Solera's fifth chief executive since 2008.