Perhaps you read on vacation to escape the financial services grind, or perhaps you read to hone your business craft. Numerous titles on this year's list — recommended by American Banker readers, BankThink contributors, our staff and others — fall somewhere in between. Read about the lives of figures like Elon Musk or Barney Frank. Understand disruption, human error and how to manage stress. Or, perhaps you just want some insight into the sociopath's playbook. It's all here.

The $602 million-asset company said in a press release Friday that Stephen Bianchi was tapped to replace Edward Schaefer, who resigned in May.

The recently rebranded California International Bank has stiffed the government on 30 dividend payments and has spurned a request to let Treasury officials observe its board meetings. There is some optimism; a Vietnamese businessman was approved to take over control after injecting $4.5 million in capital into the bank.

OceanFirst Bank in Toms River, N.J., now has extra reason to cheer for the Monmouth University men’s basketball team that was in the running for an NCAA tournament berth last season.

Ten banks have invested a total of $25 million in the fund, which buys up mortgage-backed securities tied to loans made for the development or rehabilitation of affordable single- and multifamily homes.

South State in Columbia, S.C., has terminated five loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Digital tools improve a bank's traditional sales process, but relationship-based banking is still a huge factor in winning over millennial customers.

Franklin Financial Network in Tennessee hit a roadblock in its plan to buy Civic Bank & Trust in Nashville, but that didn't stop Franklin from hiring away Civic's chief executive.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., has negotiated an exit from its loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

How Key Private Bank's CEO is looking to transform the business (hint: it has a lot to do with women); algorithms in hiring promise a new way to bring diversity to Wall Street; the CFPB has some work to do in improving its treatment of women and minorities. Plus, Blythe Masters talks blockchain and Merrill Lynch's Racquel Oden talks confidence.

FirstBank Holding in Lakewood, Colo., will have a sole chairman after one of its co-founders announced plans to step down.

Smaller institutions have added steadily to their holdings of securities that, while earning them a higher return, are more difficult to trade or liquidate.

The $3 billion-asset First United did not disclose how much it will pay for the $2.3 billion-asset American Bank. The deal is expected to close later this year.

The $380 million-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it had appointed Lawrence Seidman to its board, effective July 1.

Community bankers are trying to determine how they can offer affordable small-dollar loans that fit within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complex 1,341-page payday lending plan.

Southern Banc in Gadsden, Ala., said it could report a loss for its fiscal year after recording a charge tied to a bad loan.

For some banks, gone are the days of just using social media to update followers on branch hours. Increasingly, banks are using sites like Twitter and Facebook for something much larger.

The $5.3 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it will buy two branches in the California markets of Granada Hills and Burbank from the $7.3 billion-asset Boston Private Financial Holdings in Boston.

First Mid-Illinois signed a confidentiality agreement last fall to pursue a mystery bank in Illinois. It soon discovered that the bank — First Clover Leaf — was an institution it had heavily courted three years earlier.

Contrary to doom-and-gloom attitudes of some about banks' ability to compete for millennials' business, the industry will build on its history of innovation to meet the technology needs of future customers.