Laura Alix

Michael Cleary, Santander's head of consumer and business banking, and Robert Rubino, a former executive vice president at Citizens Financial Group, will share duties while overseeing their own business units.

A headquarters move to Boston, a core system with plenty of headroom and a CEO who admires big acquirers like M&T and the old Banknorth: All the signs are there of an ambitious bank with a plan.

Tim Welsh will succeed Kent Stone, who is retiring. In his new role, Welsh will oversee the bank’s overall consumer and small-business strategy, as well as digital activities.

While the courts have affirmed cities’ right to file predatory lending suits, they are also now holding them to a much higher standard in proving that banks knowingly steered minority borrowers into high-cost home loans.

The moves could position Christopher Gorman and Don Kimble as potential successors to CEO Beth Mooney.

Citizens Financial is going out of market to find midsize businesses in need of credit or advisory services in uncertain times. It is a good example of the resiliency that regional banks are showing amid softer loan demand, Washington gridlock and still-low interest rates.

Executives at Wells Fargo, SunTrust and PNC insist that credit cards, mortgages and other consumer lines can help pick up the slack as commercial borrowers remain cautious.

Loan growth is tepid, optimism has waned for regulatory and tax reform, and questions abound on consumer credit, bank executives are warning as midyear approaches.

Canada's big banks are pursuing wholesale banking, capital markets and select M&A opportunities across the border to hedge against a slowing mortgage market and other economic concerns on the home front.

The Toronto bank said increases in deposits and loans spurred a 20% rise in profit at its U.S. retail bank from a year earlier.