Kristin Broughton

Bank Leumi's conservatism helped it stay profitable during the financial crisis. The bank, a unit of Leumi Group in Israel, is ready to get more aggressive in areas such as technology lending.

For years, UMB Financial rode fee-income gains from the expansion of its asset management unit to some strong quarters. But the unit's production has waned lately forcing the company to rethink its expense base and management structure.

An interbank loan market for community and regional banks, and backed by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, plans to open for business next month.

The CFPB is evaluating whether it should take legal action against the Minnesota company for how it handles overdraft protection. The move comes as TCF takes steps to become less dependent on services charges for fee revenue.

Beth Mooney at Key and Joseph Ficalora at New York Community Bancorp recently upset shareholders with big acquisitions. Industry observers believe investors should slowly warm up to deals as a strategic alternative to generous dividends and share buybacks.

TCF Financial faces a potential lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the way the Wayzata, Minn., company charges overdraft fees.

The company recently created a collateralized-debt obligation backed by bank debt, bringing to mind the types of structured investments that plagued smaller banks a few years ago. This time, StoneCastle will hold all the credit risk, instead of selling it off to banks. The CDOs are backed by relatively straightforward sub debt rather than hybrid securities.

The auto lender has changed the way it calculates its closely-watched provision for credit losses, a move that added to third-quarter profits and raised questions about the transparency of its loan book.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings plans to exit personal lending and focus primarily on its auto-finance business.

Old National is taking advantage of low interest rates by buying more than a dozen branches in solid real estate markets. An expected accounting rule change could encourage more banks to do the same.