Alan Kline

The largest shareholder at HF Financial Corp. has nominated its own slate of directors to challenge the candidates being backed by the management of the Sioux Falls, S.D., thrift company.

The best-performing community banks and thrifts in the country are concentrated in the Northeast, according to a new report from Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP.

First Merchants Corp. in Muncie, Ind., announced Friday that is planning to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program using a combination of proceeds from a recent stock offering and a low-interest loan from the Treasury Department's Small Business Lending Fund.

Equity Bank in Andover, Kan., is bulking up in its home state with deals to acquire a small bank in Lawrence and four branches in Topeka from a Missouri bank that is exiting the market.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a written agreement with Stonebridge Financial Corp. in West Chester, Pa.

In an effort build scale and improve efficiency, Haverhill Bank in Massachusetts has struck a deal to merge with Economy Co-operative Bank in Merrimac.

Heritage Oaks Bancorp in Paso Robles, Calif., has named longtime California banking executive Simone Lagomarsino as its new president and chief executive officer and as CEO of its subsidiary, Heritage Oaks Bank.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., plans to raise more than $200 million in fresh capital and will use the proceeds to repay the balance of its debt to the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Community Pride Bank Corp. in Ham Lake, Minn., is under orders from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis to use all of its "financial and managerial" resources to ensure that its bank subsidiary remains safe and sound.

Evercore Wealth Management in New York has recruited a team of portfolio and asset managers from a division of Wells Fargo Bank to staff its new Midwest regional headquarters in Minneapolis.

Bank of America's plan to eliminate roughly 3,500 jobs this quarter marks just the start of an efficiency drive that could reduce the company's global workforce by about 10%.

First Bancorp in Troy, N.C., has received $63.5 million from the Treasury Department's small-business lending program and has used the funds to exit the agency's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Federal Reserve Board's decision to hold public hearings and extend the comment period on Capital One Financial Corp.'s planned acquisition of ING Direct has drawn the ire of House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus.

Its purchase from FIA Card Services is part of a broader trend of banks taking back management of their cards.

Regions Financial Corp. of Birmingham has named Ruth Ann Marshall, a former top executive at MasterCard International Inc., to its board of directors.

Waccamaw Bankshares Inc. in Whiteville, N.C., has until late September to file certain financial statements with the Securities and Exchange or else its thinly traded stock could be removed from the Nasdaq exchange.

As part of its ongoing effort to bolster its capital base, embattled Capitol Bancorp Ltd. is selling its ownership stake in an Ohio bank it co-founded to a group of local investors.

In a widely anticipated move, Bank of America Corp. announced Monday morning that it is selling half of its stake in China Construction Bank to a group of investors for $8.3 billion.

Under orders from its regulators to boost a key capital ratio, Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa, Calif., announced that it has already raised $11.2 million of fresh capital and has a deal in place to raise $27.3 million more.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc. in Dallas has lost the first round in a legal battle over a loan it made to an Oklahoma automobile dealer that soured.