Kristin Broughton

The drumbeat of news about hackers stealing millions of dollars by gaming the Swift interbank messaging system should have been a wake-up call for banking executives, but it's unclear how many of them answered it. Is it too late for them to shore up their defenses?

Activist-pressured Comerica disclosed some long-awaited, positive news, reporting an uptick in average loan balances so far in the second quarter.

While many of the nation's biggest banks provide live streams of their shareholders meetings, many midsize institutions do not. Investors are urging more institutions to webcast those gatherings, based on a belief that doing so will increase transparency.

TCF Financial in Minnesota has launched a set of products targeting low-income customers. The company, which has closed a fifth of its branches in recent years, hopes underbanked clients will boost traffic at its remaining locations.

The heads of megabanks get paid a lot. Some investors want them to streamline their companies for greater returns. But it's arguable whether those CEOs would want to do so if their counterparts at smaller, better-performing banks get paid less.

UMB Financial took its lumps last year when its funds management business suffered from large outflows. The challenge prompted UMB to tighten up on expenses and rely more on revenue tied to its balance sheet.

JPMorgan attracted stronger support for its annual say-on-pay vote after dozens of conversations with major shareholders prompted it to make a series of changes to executive compensation.

Recent speculation that Comerica is on the block has sparked a conversation about how regulators would vet the sale of a SIFI.

Can't anybody get along … for even five minutes? JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon called community banking leader Cam Fine a "jerk" on cable television. Fine responded by blasting megabanks for their role in the financial crisis.

Maria Vullo, still stuck in limbo as acting superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, is hindered from putting her mark on the agency until she gets confirmed. So a quiet guessing game is going on about how her supervisory philosophy will compare with her predecessor Benjamin Lawsky.