John Reosti

A growing number of banks employ chief marketing officers who manage multimillion-dollar budgets and are involved in high-level corporate decision-making. The pressure's on to come up with creative ways to differentiate their brands and connect with customers.

Aside from shoestring budgets, the biggest problem for many community banks is that their marketing programs have gone stale, experts say. For too many, marketing remains bounded by three time-worn pillars: advertising, direct mail and public relations.

An obscure provision in the regulatory relief bill championed by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is giving mutual holding companies hope that a threat to their business model will be eliminated.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA's Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund continues to improve, and if the current trend holds, credit unions can expect a nice payout — but not for another six years.

Triumph Bancshares in Memphis says it has been mistakenly contacted by customers of Triumph Bancorp in Dallas, and has concluded that the Triumph moniker isn't big enough for both institutions. It's hoping a lawsuit will force the Texas bank to change its name.

NCUA officials still have several more months of work ahead of them before they unveil a comprehensive overhaul of their Field of Membership rules, but the agency completed a kind of trial run Thursday, approving a much narrower amendment to the rules governing associational common bonds.

NCUA is poised to address associational common bonds, a prelude to its reinterpretation of field of membership, at its monthly board meeting Thursday morning. The move comes just days after receiving a new record number of comment letters on risk-based capital. The difference, credit unions are actually looking forward to the FOM proposal, while comments filed on RBC remained largely negative, ranging from calls to can the proposal entirely to revising the already-much-revised rule.

Royal Bancshares in Narberth, Pa., could have taken large writedowns and burned through capital to erase millions of dollars in bad assets. But management decided to hold onto those assets as it slowly ran off loans in a pair of shuttered business lines.

Banks in Baltimore seem to have avoided the worst of the violence in the city's riots, though that's partly because they have few branches in some of the affected neighborhoods.

The Pennsylvania company is keen on buying a bank with $1 billion or more in assets to soundly cross a threshold that would bring with it more regulatory scrutiny.

The company will consider annual elections for all directors after investors passed a non-binding resolution urging for a change.

A narrowing net interest margin left little room for error, but it still proved more than enough for Huntington Bancshares. Tight expense control, continued solid asset quality and strong deposit growth helped the Columbus, Ohio-based bank post an 11% increase in first-quarter net income.

The first quarter was another banner one for Signature Bank in New York, which reported record net income of $83.4 million, topping its 2014 first-quarter results by 26%.

Low-income borrowers are responsible for much of the recent surge in student loan defaults and delinquencies, according to new research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Low-income borrowers are responsible for much of the recent surge in student loan defaults and delinquencies, according to new research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Bank of the Ozarks could raise more capital, especially if a rising number of unfunded loans convert to funded credits. Management is also keeping an eye on credit quality, raising certain standards and selling some syndicated loans.

Local governments have historically relied on selling bonds to finance operations. But low interest rates and the rising costs of taking bond issues public are making traditional loans a more tempting option.

M&T Bank still can't get the Fed's blessing to buy Hudson City. The latest delay raises questions about Hudson City's fate and what could be going on internally at the Fed to keep the acquisition in limbo.

The bill would require written contract amendments, signed by the lender, for most loans. Legislators took up the issue after a judge in the state sided with a borrower's claim of having an oral agreement from Bank of America to modify a mortgage.

Huntington Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, has named R. Jeffrey Young president of its mutual fund service subsidiary.