The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is currently entertaining tougher capital rules for certain types of construction and commercial real estate loans. If the rules go through, they could ice small banks' plans for returning to profit growth.

The Treasury Department is auctioning off shares it owns in seven more community banks still left in the Troubled Asset Relief Program and at least five of the banks intend to bid on all or some of the shares themselves.

Capitol Bancorp in Lansing, Mich., is asking its debt holders to convert their interests to equity in what appears to be a last-ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy.

We'll know that the banking industry has returned to full health when we see a significant number of new charters. We're not there yet.

Armed with $150 million of fresh capital, Alliance Partners in Chevy Chase, Md., has announced that it is adding an equipment finance unit to go along with its existing corporate lending service.

Loan brokers using table funding captured 9.9% of the origination market in the first quarter, a slight gain from 4Q when the sector had a 9.7% share, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

Supporters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are dismissing a new lawsuit that seeks to abolish the agency as a political stunt, and even bank industry insiders who would like the case to succeed are privately calling it an uphill battle. But it may still have an impact on the CFPB's operations in a more indirect way.

Kearny Financial (KRNY) of Fairfield, N.J., has decided to skip its next quarterly dividend payment despite a proposal from the Federal Reserve Board that would prohibit thrift holding companies from missing dividend payments.

USAmeriBank of Largo, Fla., has purchased a building in Tampa, Fla., where it intends to open a new branch and staff it with 25 new hires.

SNL Financial's ranking of the 10 biggest bank and thrift deals since Jan. 1, 2010, reminds us that some acquisitions demand a lot of short-term pain — to get them approved, and to integrate them — for long-term gains.

Robert C. Grubic, the CEO of a civil engineering firm Herbert, Rowland and Grubic, has been named the chairman of Mid Penn Bancorp (MPB) of Millersburg, Pa.

A month after calling off a planned public offering, Customers Bancorp in Pennsylvania, led by former Sovereign CEO Jay Sidhu, will bring in $100 million in capital by acquiring Acacia Federal Savings.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.

Bank of Georgetown in Washington, D.C., has elected former mayor Anthony Williams to its board of directors.

Ixonia Bancshares in Milwaukee has raised $21 million in fresh capital, including $16.5 million from a wealthy family that also owns a stake in the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club.

A federal appeals court has denied Republic Bancorp's bid to recover $14 million it lost on securities investments because it believes the Louisville, Ky., company should have been aware of the risks it was taking.

When HSBC sold its branches in upstate New York, it created a big change with dozens of branches changing hands. Once the signs are changed, a number of community banks and regionals will have to work hard to keep business in those branches.

Fees paid to outside auditors appear to have been relatively stable in recent years. So have legal expenses for smaller institutions since mid-2010, when the 2,000-odd pages of the Dodd-Frank Act became law.

A Chinese businessman who founded a rice-trading company made up a story about his $60 million acquisition of a Delaware bank. He has since been arrested.

The Federal Reserve Board has entered into written agreements with two companies requiring them to serve as sources of strength for their banks.