Popular with employees: Employees get an extra vacation day during their anniversary month.

Popular with employees: Level One hosts an annual bring-your-dog-to-work day.

Popular with employees: Trivia questions go out the Friday before every Texas Tech football game. The first three employees to respond with the correct answers win a prize, such as gift cards, game tickets and Texas Tech apparel.

Popular with employees: Muncy Bank employees bring dishes to share for monthly luncheons.

Popular with employees: Every January, all employees receive up to $300 to buy work attire.

Zions, No. 57 in the overall ranking, is No. 3 in the category for banks with more than $10 billion of assets.

Popular among employees: Citizens Bank of West Virginia provides monthly "smile" lunch, surprise or other fun activity, ranging from tailgates to ice cream socials.

American Savings, No. 59 in the overall ranking, is No. 9 in the category for banks with $3 billion to $10 billion of assets.

Popular with employees: For more than 20 years, First Premier has provided scholarships to high school seniors. Last year, 15 of the 31 $1,000 scholarships awarded went to children of bank employees.

From tying the knot to working out, these institutions from our annual Best Banks to Work For list have given their employees inventive ways to earn extra time off.

Eliminating paper doesn't just speed up processes and cut costs — it's also good for the environment, and helps financial institutions recruit and retain green-minded and tech-savvy young employees. Here's a look at how some of the Best Banks to Work For are saving trees while saving money and time.

F.N.B. in Pittsburgh plans to retain some Yadkin Financial executives and assign them to key roles after it closes its purchase of the North Carolina bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is set to release its quarterly update on the industry's health on Aug. 30. The second-quarter Quarterly Banking Profile will indicate whether banks have rebounded from their slight slump in the first quarter.

Hillary Clinton's proposal for regulatory relief for smaller institutions largely tracks with ideas already discussed, but her backing could keep alive the momentum for a reg relief plan should she win in November.

Family Security Credit Union, a $580-million institution based in Decatur, Ala., said it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase substantially all of the assets and assume the deposits of the privately held Bank of Pine Hill, based in Pine Hill, Ala.

A director at Citizens Independent Bancorp in Logan, Ohio, resigned after members of management chastised him for an email security breach.

New Bancorp in New Buffalo, Mich., has hired Shawna Zawada as controller and principal financial officer, days after Russell Dahl resigned as chief financial officer.

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association has fired back at a White House research note that argued the Dodd-Frank Act was not driving community bank consolidation.

Astoria Financial has set a December date for its annual meeting this year—something the bank never expected to do.

Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has agreed to buy Insignia Bank in Sarasota, Fla.