Jackie Stewart is the executive editor of American Banker Magazine. Previously, she covered breaking news, community banks and mergers and acquisitions for American Banker before being named as the managing editor of the Credit Union Journal. After graduating from Northwestern University in 2006, Jackie taught for two years in the Bronx, N.Y., through Teach for America.
StoneCastle Financial is planning an initial public offering to raise up to $150 million for bank investments.
Daniel Walker made his way from working as an elevator operator at Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach to heading up the California company.
Farmers & Merchants in Long Beach, Calif., has grown significantly since 2008 largely because of successful efforts to keep key employees from bolting.
First BanCorp (FBP) has traveled a bumpy road to recovery but top management hopes a clear strategy will help the San Juan, Puerto Rico, company complete its turnaround.
West Bancorp. recently took out a loan to buy back 8% of its common stock, while BNC Bancorp used borrowed funds to exit Tarp.
Community banks can't cost cut their way to prosperity, though it certainly is a step in the right direction, a recent Fiserv study found.
Seacoast Banking of Florida has opened five offices in the last three months, called "fuel cells," to focus on small businesses. The aim is to foster more collaboration between commercial clients and Seacoast employees.
Investors, analysts and reporters have overestimated the Georgia bank's interest in doing M&A deals, chairman and CEO Kessel Stelling says.
In a low-growth market, aggressive banks are seeking to grow by poaching top performers from rivals. There are effective ways to keep top talent on board.
The bank wants to double in size by pursuing acquisitions and hiring bankers away from competitors.
The long-held notion that community banks, by definition, provide exceptional customer service is getting debunked.
A growing number of community banks are hiring consultants to negotiate core processing and IT-service contracts, which are typically among a bank's biggest expenses.
Organic growth, dealmaking and innovation are taking a backseat to compliance, bank executives told KPMG in a new survey.
Regulators let Synovus acquire a failed bank its first deal in four years though it still owes Tarp $968 million. A surprising number of similar deals have occurred in recent years.
The Chicago-area company has started financing employee stock-ownership plans as a way to eke more business out of commercial clients.
BankUnited handed out free ice cream and metro cards at its new Manhattan branches to build branch recognition.
Though large banks have mostly been the targets of criminals so far, smaller banks are not immune to online threats.
Federal Savings Bank in Kansas is growing by making mortgages to veterans, a business that other lenders have botched.
A growing number of community banks are working with Farmer Mac to offer loans at lower rates, helping them compete with Farm Credit institutions.
Community banks that expanded student lending to improve earnings are discovering why their larger brethren have backed off from the business: servicing and compliance challenges abound.