John Reosti

New rules have made it more challenging to originate mortgages without drawing attention from regulators. Mercantile Bank in Michigan, however, believes that positive trends in its biggest markets are incentive enough to hire lenders and improve its systems.

At least one banker has gone public with expectations that the OCC will force his institution to hold more capital. More could soon follow.

No one at Old Fort Banking could afford to buy the large stake being sold by the Ohio bank's majority shareholder. So the employee stock ownership plan stepped in, and now it plans to take full control of Old Fort's holding company.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board gave final approval Wednesday to its controversial Current Expected Credit Loss standard, but agreed to delay its implementation deadlines by a year in response to protests from banks and credit unions.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board gave final approval Wednesday to its controversial Current Expected Credit Loss standard, but agreed to delay its implementation deadlines by a year in response to protests from banks and credit unions.

BOK Financial continued to diversify its lending, booking strong increases in health care, manufacturing and commercial real estate credits. Progress on that front, however, was overshadowed by ongoing deterioration in its energy portfolio.

Lance Osborne is vying for two board seats at First Niles Financial in Ohio, but he isn’t pushing the thrift to sell itself. Rather, he wants management to pull money out of securities to make more loans.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., reported first-quarter net income of $40 million Thursday, an 11% drop from the same period in 2015. In doing so the $28 billion-asset company joined the lengthening list of banks whose bottom lines fell victim to ongoing tumult in the energy market.

For years, banks in the Midwest looked beyond the region to increase revenue and profit. Today, the area is starting to bounce back, allowing many of those banks to thrive by focusing on their core markets.

Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, withstood issues in its energy portfolio to report higher quarterly profit.

Hancock Holding in Gulfport, Miss., reported a steep drop in quarterly earnings that reflected ongoing energy woes.

Several small and midsize banks generated large year-over-year loan growth despite a belief by some outsiders that a slowdown was looming. Bankers may have to spend coming months assuring investors that they can keep booking loans while adequately managing risk.

Revenue at Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., hit a record $240.6 million in the first quarter, but expenses related to its expansion in Boston and an uptick in net chargeoffs kept profits flat.

The Memphis, Tenn., company's forecast for the remainder of the year calls for cost saves from a branch-reduction effort that's gaining momentum as online and mobile banking grow and monthly visits to branches plummet.

To date, only a handful of banks have become benefit corporations, but experts believe the number could rise as regulators become more comfortable with the concept.

The latest version of a new accounting standard for calculating loan-loss reserves would ease the burden on small banks, ICBA officials say. However, the ABA says it still fails to eliminate the biggest problem — asking lenders to predict the future.

JPMorgan Chase, drawing from its experience in the Motor City, has created a $125 million program designed to help community development financial institutions make bigger investments in impoverished neighborhoods.

Several banks have recently purchased highly visible properties in strategically important markets, investing in real estate at a time when the industry is closing branches at a record pace. Low rates may be a factor, but many bankers are also trying to send a message to clients and prospects.

Even as an NCUA working group is trying to craft a supplemental capital proposal for credit unions, mutual thrifts are quietly courting their regulator for a similar measure of their own.

A recent meeting with the OCC is giving mutual thrifts hope that they can find a way to bring in more capital before the next recession. The OCC, while open to a solution, is keen to protect the rights of those institutions' deposit holders.