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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Five years after embarking on a path to become a bank holding company, specialty lender CapitalSource is almost there. Tad Lowrey, the CEO of CapitalSource Bank, thinks the Fed will approve an application next year, now that company is "smaller, simpler and cleaner."
June 18 -
State regulators closed banks in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee on Friday, making June a busy month for failures.
June 15 -
More than a year following its chief executive's departure, Pacific Commerce Bank in Los Angeles has found someone to take the helm.
June 14 -
Most of us buy into the thinking that the slow pace of bank M&A is a bad thing. But, unless you are an investment banker or a lawyer who advises on deals, there are a lot of benefits to measured consolidation, some industry observers say.
June 12 -
The Treasury has commenced another auction of Tarp holdings. At least banks are planning to use the auction as an opportunity to retire preferred shares that will carry a 9% interest rate in late 2003.
June 11 -
Ailing Capitol Bancorp is corralling some of its most dire bank units — Bank of Las Vegas, Indiana Community Bank, Sunrise Bank of Albuquerque and Sunrise Bank of Arizona — as part of its ongoing effort to raise fresh capital.
June 7 -
Patriot Financial Partners, a Philadelphia PE firm, hires the former CEO of a community bank in Pennsylvania.
June 7 -
Three years after arriving, CEO Chris Bauer has helped Anchor survive by reducing costs and shrinking the Madison, Wis., company's assets. The thrift remains adequately capitalized, but the company still needs a $250 million lifeline.
June 6 -
Equity Bancshares in Wichita, Kan., has filled its tank to fuel growth. The $600 million-asset company raised $20.4 million in capital that it plans to use for acquisitions and organic growth.
June 1 -
Videoconferencing and ATM ID palm readers will soon be de rigueur at bank branches, according to experts at a recent event.
June 1 -
Three years after a group of private equity firms bought BankUnited out of receivership, industry observers wonder if the deal really paved the way for other firms interested in consolidating banks.
May 30 -
The Federal Reserve Board has given a Premier Bank in Denver 90 days to become adequately capitalized or sell itself.
May 29 -
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has replaced an order between North American Savings Bank and the Office of Thrift Supervision with one of its own.
May 25 -
First Republic Bank in San Francisco is planning to raise $150 million through a preferred stock offering.
May 25 -
As the potential end of unlimited deposit insurance for noninterest bearing accounts nears, industry observer weigh in on what could to happen to those deposits. Some see the Dec. 31 end of the program as a 'litmus test' for Too Big To Fail and an opportunity for smaller banks.
May 24 -
Intermountain Community Bancorp had hoped to raise up to $8.7 million from existing shareholders, but the Sandpoint, Idaho, company only got 40% of the way there.
May 23 -
The Federal Reserve has lifted a written agreement with Guaranty Bancorp and its bank, which could free the Denver company to retire some of its more costly debt.
May 22 -
In a legal filing, the OCC made its argument that regulators acted appropriately when they closed the Denver thrift in early 2010.
May 21 -
Porter Bancorp's shareholders have granted the struggling company more flexibility to raise capital to meet the demands of regulators.
May 17 -
The former chief financial officer of the failed Tennessee Commerce Bank has taken the same role at First Financial Service Corporation, a struggling Kentucky bank.
May 16
