Robert Barba is the technology editor of American Banker. Robert previously served as deputy editor of American Banker's dealmaking and strategy section. He joined American Banker in late 2007 as a community banking reporter, just in time for the financial crisis. Robert played a lead role in covering community banks' struggle for survival in the years following the downturn. Robert has appeared on Fox Business to discuss bank failures and the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Prior to joining American Banker, Robert was a general business reporter at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Stuart, Fla. He began his career as a business desk intern at The Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera. Robert is based in New York.
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A federal judge last week sided with the competitor, Alliance Bancorp Inc. of Pennsylvania, and barred Sidhu's New Century Bank in Phoenixville from rebranding itself Customers 1st Bank. The judge said that name infringed on Alliance's trademark-protected Customer First products.
August 3 -
BancTrust Financial Group Inc. in Mobile, Ala., has announced that it earned $969,000 in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $118 million a year earlier.
August 2 -
The $5.1 billion-asset company announced Monday that it has received regulatory approval to consolidate two of its banks — Bank of Valdosta and Peoples State Bank — in its Sunrise Bank of Atlanta. Collectively, the three banks have $136 million of assets.
August 2 -
Two Middle Atlantic companies are seeking to bolster their common equity.
August 2 -
Central Pacific Financial Corp. in Honolulu posted a second-quarter loss of $16.1 million, as credit problems remained high but subsided from a year earlier.
July 30 -
Debtholders battling with community banks over recapitalization plans have clearly scored a victory — but will it be a win-win?
July 29 -
Sun Bancorp Inc. in Vineland, N.J., reported a second-quarter loss of $81.2 million, which it attributed primarily to a goodwill impairment charge of $89.7 million.
July 28 -
Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in Troy, Mich., said its second-quarter loss expanded by 26% from a year earlier, to $97 million. The $13.7 billion-asset company's net interest income totaled $42.4 million, up 12% from the first quarter, but down 30% from a year earlier.
July 28 -
EverBank Financial Corp. in Jacksonville, Fla., has struck a deal to rename the local football stadium EverBank Field.
July 28 -
The opportunities to make bets on failed Nevada banks are dwindling, drawing out-of-state buyers into the market before the game closes.
July 27 -
The $10.6 billion-asset company's earnings were driven primarily by a $51 million gain stemming from a failed bank acquisition completed in the quarter, MB Financial said Thursday.
July 22 -
A regulatory maneuver rarely used since the savings and loan crisis has saved Family Federal Savings of Illinois in the nick of time.
July 22 -
Atlantic Coast Federal Corp.'s credit quality is on the mend as the Waycross, Ga., company approaches its second-step conversion.
July 20 -
GreenChoice Holding Co. Inc. in Chicago has completed its acquisition of Family Federal Savings of Illinois in Cicero.
July 19 -
Armed with more money and less baggage, private-equity funds are staking their claims in the Southeast banking market, changing the landscape of failed-bank dealmaking as they go.
July 19 -
It was one of the busier weeks for dealmaking this side of the economic collapse. And though analysts say it might be too early to call it a breakthrough for open-bank deals, it is certainly a start.
July 16 -
Its keys to success have been an adherence to a strategy of courting customers disenchanted with their current bank, and the willingness to adapt to the changed banking landscape.
July 15 -
People's United Financial in Bridgeport, Conn., is on a shopping spree up and down the Northeast. The $22 billion-asset company announced late Thursday that it reached agreements to buy Smithtown Bancorp in Hauppauge, N.Y. and LSB Corp. in North Andover, Mass. Both are contiguous to People's United's existing market.
July 15 -
BancFirst Corp. in Oklahoma City announced Wednesday it is acquiring Union National Bancshares Inc. Through the deal, the $4.5 billion-asset BancFirst will pick up $135 million in assets, including $86 million in loans, from Union National.
July 14 -
The $11.6 billion-asset company announced late Tuesday that it is expecting to record a loan-loss provision of $57 million to $62 million, primarily stemming from credit problems in Florida and worsening credit quality in Louisiana and Texas.
July 14
