John Reosti

With a strong financial commitment and a goal of "building cool stuff," the Boston community bank hopes to continue to innovate.

A stable of in-house development talent helps Florida's C1 Financial create cutting-edge apps.

Huntington had admired the finance firm for decades, but it was the Ohio company's Midwestern ties that helped it snag the unit from other suitors.

The upstarts are shaking up the world of small-business financing, but with fraud concerns mounting, some say it's only a matter of time before they come under the scrutiny of state and federal regulators.

CoBiz Financial in Denver plans to shutter its investment banking unit by the end of March.

NCUA approved a proposed rule that would raise the asset ceiling for its definition of a "small entity" credit union by $50 million to $100 million.

Biddeford Savings Bank and Mechanics Savings Bank will form a holding company to help each cut costs and make bigger loans. But the thrifts are hoping to keep their own charters, and independence, over the long term.

Racial disparity in small-business loans remains glaring, despite some improvement. Lenders' unfamiliarity with African-American communities is part of the problem, but so is the need for financial education among prospective borrowers.

Loan demand, which bankers say remained weak well after the recession, is picking up, and the industry is adjusting business models to meet it. But banks may want to act fast.

Reps. Peter King and Brad Sherman re-introduced a bill Friday that would open the door for credit unions to raise supplemental capital.

No one can agree on what the Fed will do with interest rates. In the meantime, the banking industry's more-conservative players are devoting more resources toward hoarding low-cost deposits and purging shorter-term borrowings.

Speakers at the American Bankers Association's Conference for Community Bankers made it clear that smaller banks must find ways to embrace new and disruptive ways of doing business to compete the bigger institutions and nonbanks.

Management training programs are slowly returning to smaller banks decades after belt-tightening led to their demise. Rigorous regulatory scrutiny, combined with a need for improved risk management and increased income, are spurring the comeback.

Sun Bancorp's CEO made a bold forecast, telling analysts this week that the company should be profitable throughout the year. Not bad for a bank that has lost $350 million since 2008

BB&T and KeyCorp's quarterly results showed how more diversified regional banks can turn to their insurance sales, investment banking and other fee generators for backup until interest rates improve. Whereas the smaller Huntington Bancshares needed strong loan growth in a quarter (and year) when fees fell.

Stephen Steinour, the head of Huntington Bancshares, cited strong projected growth in auto sales and an improving housing market as good signs for the Midwestern bank's fortunes in 2015.

With dueling legal opinions on NCUA's authority to implement a multi-tiered risk-based capital rule, the regulator could be facing a lawsuit.

Five Star Bank is the latest financial institution to settle claims that it avoided lending to minorities. More redlining cases can be expected, industry experts say.

Industry stakeholders are hunkering down to go through NCUA's revised proposed rule on risk-based capital, but at first blush, response has been largely positive, even though the two primary CU trade groups still believe the rule simply isn't necessary, revised or not.

Ten financial institutions, including four banks, will accept the new IDNYC card as a primary form of identification for new accounts. Community advocates hope the move will help more immigrants and unbanked individuals use banking products.