Alan Kline

Whether it's regulation, cyber threats, vendor backlog or just plain inertia, U.S. banks still lag their overseas counterparts when it comes to mobile adoption.

Driven by solid gains in both interest and noninterest income, Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago reported a profit of $234.6 million in the third quarter, up 15% from the same period in 2014. Earnings per share climbed 14%, to 96 cents, in line with the estimates of analysts polled by Bloomberg.

Loan-loss provisions are trending up, partly due to an increase in overall lending but also because lenders are concerned about future losses on loans tied to the energy and manufacturing sectors.

Regions Financial in Birmingham, Ala., reported gains in loans and overall revenues in the third quarter, but its net income declined from the same period last year due to increases in its premium for federal deposit insurance and provision for loan losses.

Acquisitions would seem to be a logical course of action for regional banks struggling to cut costs and boost revenues in the low interest rate environment, but some bank chief executives are less open to the idea than others as comments by the heads of First Horizon and SunTrust demonstrate.

First Horizon National Corp. reported a sharp increase in its third-quarter profit as an increase in average loans, lower overhead and a decrease in income tax payments helped to offset a 9% decline in total revenue.

Sound growth plans, not quirks of geography, define this year’s class of community bank all-stars.

Regional banks did a much better job of expanding revenue than their megabank counterparts in the third quarter, but they had to spend more to do so and risk angering investors in a tight-margin environment.

Profits at First Republic Bank fell slightly in the third quarter as increased salary and benefits costs and a decline in noninterest income could not offset strong growth in loans, deposits and wealth management assets.

Despite years of diversity initiatives, senior management teams remain overwhelmingly male. Now a growing number of women are coming around to the idea that real change starts in the boardroom.