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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The Minnesota Department of Commerce closed the $50.2 million-asset 1st Regents Bank in Andover on Friday.
January 18 -
Royal Business Bank is relying more on making deals, particularly for banks that focus on Chinese-American communities, as competition intensifies.
January 18 -
Tighter margins. Anxious commercial customers. Fresh memories of bad risks taken. These are a few of the limitations acting on Fifth Third, BB&T, PNC and other regional banks as they try to improve on progress made last year.
January 17 -
Cost control will sharpen further in 2013, given continued pressure from low interest rates and loan competition, U.S. Bancorp says. Other banks will face similar challenges.
January 16 -
Alvin Kang, CEO of BBCN, is said to have resigned after a disagreement with his board. His departure could clear the way for a deal for Hanmi Financial and raises the prospect of industrywide succession fights as banks consolidate.
January 15 -
Virginia Commerce and Hanmi Financial are mulling sales after turnarounds, decisions that surprise some but could make sense for the select group of banks with just the right balance of size, appeal and reason to sell.
January 14 -
Hanmi Financial announced Wednesday that it has hired an advisor to help it explore strategic alternatives. Observers say the recovered lender could be a hot ticket, fetching between $16 to $20 per share.
January 10 -
Royal Business Bank in Los Angeles has agreed to acquire Los Angeles National Bank in Buena Park, Calif.
January 10 -
Accounting-related gains are dwindling for many acquirers of failed or troubled banks. Their alternatives include cutting costs — or buying again.
January 9 -
Consolidation among bank dealmakers continues as Houlihan Lokey acquires Milestone Advisors. The combined firm has 28 bank M&A advisors and will try to hire more amid upheaval in investment banking.
January 8 -
As loan participations start to climb, lenders would be well served to learn how a poorly structured agreement on a mall property caused headaches for more than a dozen banks.
January 4 -
CEO Trevor Burgess believes that targeting professionals will allow C1 to compete in a market dominated by larger banks.
January 3 -
C1 Bank will likely need to strengthen its compliance department before buying a branch in downtown Miami from U.S. Century Bank.
December 31 -
The interim chief financial officer of Capitol Bancorp has quit.
December 24 -
Sierra Vista in Folsom, Calif., is the kind of bank typically marked for extinction. But it has raised enough equity to try to make itself into a buyer, or a more appealing takeover target.
December 19 -
The company landed $85 million to fuel organic growth at a time when most banks are attracting large investments for acquisitions.
December 18 -
Michael Tierney's challenge next year at Flagstar Bancorp is twofold: find ways to go on the offensive while continuing to resolve lingering issues at the Michigan company.
December 18 -
Community Trust Financial of Ruston, La., has received a $45 million investment from Pine Brook, a New York private-equity firm, the two firms announced Monday.
December 17 -
A healthy bank preemptively sells. Unspent capital burns a hole in a private-equity investor's pocket. A niche player waves the white flag. These are among six deal scenarios you'll see repeatedly next year.
December 17 -
The rising price of bank targets along the central California coast could make expansion there more difficult, PacWest CEO Matt Wagner recently told investors at a meeting hosted by Sandler O'Neill.
December 14
