Alan Kline

First Midwest Bancorp (FMBI) in Itasca, Ill., has named Thomas M. Prame its director of retail banking, a newly created position in which he will be responsible for the bank's 100-branch network and oversee the expansion and development of its retail products and services.

Two payday lenders have filed suit against the city of Austin, Texas, claiming that new regulations restricting where payday lenders can operate and how much they can lend to one borrower violate state laws.

With Congress nearing a vote on a new Farm Bill that will set agricultural policy for the next five years, the banking industry is urging lawmakers to resist efforts to weaken the federal crop insurance program.

A Dallas-area investment group has applied to become a bank holding company so it could acquire a small bank outside of Austin.

A planned merger between two southern California banks has yet to close a year after the deal was announced because regulators have yet to approve it.

The 2008 bailout program may have worked as intended, but Wells Fargo's Former CEO still insists it did more harm than good.

The Treasury Department has successfully sold off its shares in seven more community banks as part of its ongoing effort to wind down the four-year-old Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) in Columbus, Ohio, announced Thursday that electronics payment pioneer Peter J. Kight has joined its board of directors.

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) in Columbus, Ohio, continues to bet big on in-store branches.

The asset management firm Lazard (LAZ) announced Wednesday that it has elected former Citigroup (NYSE:C) Chairman Richard D. Parsons to its board of directors.

The former chief executive of a failed Florida community bank has been sentenced to six years in prison for lying to regulators about the bank's condition.

M&T Bank (MTB) in Buffalo announced Monday that former Comptroller of the Currency John "Jerry" D. Hawke Jr. has been elected to the boards of the bank and its holding company.

Pennsylvania's House of Representatives has voted unanimously to use all the funds received from the national mortgage settlement to help at-risk homeowners rather than use a portion of it to plug budget gaps.

Privatebancorp (PVTB) in Chicago is in no rush to boost its dividend, preferring instead to use any excess capital to grow earning assets and invest in new products.

Grandpoint Capital announced late Monday that it is buying NCAL Bancorp, the holding company for the National Bank of California, a $341 million-asset bank with five branches in southern California.

Activist investor Joseph Stilwell has stepped up his campaign to oust the chief executive at First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash.

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp (BNCL) in Philadelphia said Friday that it has completed its acquisition of hometown rival SE Financial and that SE Financial's former president and chief executive, Pamela Cyr, has joined Beneficial as its chief retail officer.

ViewPoint Bank in Plano, Tex., is selling its home lending unit to a Dallas-based nonbank lender as part of its continued shift from a thrift to a commercial bank.

John Medlin Jr., the longtime chairman and chief executive at Wachovia Corporation and one of the most respected bankers of his generation, died Thursday, according to news reports. He was 78.

West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito has asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to provide Congress with a detailed analysis on the performance of the Transaction Account Guarantee program in order help lawmakers decide to whether or not to extend the four-year-old program when it expires Dec. 31.