Chris Cumming

Greater Hudson Bank in Middletown, N.Y., has named its next chief executive.

Farmers National in Canfield, Ohio, is getting rid of its chief executive.

Add PNC Financial Services Group to the list of banks slashing their mortgage staffs.

PNC Financial Services (PNC) in Pittsburgh has named a new top lawyer.

Hudson Valley Holding in Yonkers, N.Y. has hired James Blose, a longtime advisor, to be its general counsel and secretary.

Jeffrey Welch resigned from the $4.1 billion-asset lender at the end of August, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday.

Ally Financial has completed the sale of its Brazil operations to General Motors Financial Co., a subsidiary of the automaker GM, it said. Ally (which was once itself a GM subsidiary) received $611 million in the sale.

Home Bancorp (HBCP) in Lafayette, La., has filled two top banking roles.

First Sound Bank in Seattle has been released from a regulatory action after improving its capital levels.

In a victory for small retailers, a federal court in New York has ruled that merchants in the state may add swipe-fee surcharges on purchases made by credit card instead of cash.

Fox Chase Bancorp in Hatboro, Pa., has won permission to ditch its federal charter.

The chief operating officer of CCFNB Bancorp in Bloomsburg, Pa., plans to retire.

The monitor of the national mortgage settlement plans to force the five largest servicers to fix billing and communications problems that have plagued homeowners and been the subject of tens of thousands of complaints.

Franklin Synergy Bank in Franklin, Tenn., is planning to raise money from institutional investors as a prelude to a public offering.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has hired the head of a nonprofit that promotes business in developing countries to lead its charitable programs.

First Community Financial Partners in Joliet, Ill., has repurchased a large chunk of shares from private investors that acquired the shares from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Carrollton Bancorp's main private-equity backer, Eric Hovde, the president and chief executive of the Hovde Private Equity Advisors, is joining its board.

Hanmi Financial (HAFC) in Los Angeles has hired a handful of banking executives from rival Korean-American lender BBCN Bank (BBCN).

Two of the oldest nonprofit credit counselors plan to merge, in a move that would create the second-largest such organization in the U.S.

The $785 million-asset Georgia Commerce has agreed to buy Brookhaven Bank, the two companies announced Tuesday. The price was not disclosed.