Banks are trying to upgrade tech offerings, from mobile banking to bill pay. But that's easier said than done, in part because the biggest core processors use their dominant market share to restrict access to banks' networks. They do this, in part, because they offer their own competing tech products.

Louise Walker, the head of First Northern Bank in Dixon, Calif., will be wearing an additional hat over the next year — chair of the California Bankers Association.

For a more immediate payoff, community banks should focus marketing on older customers that are facing a new set of economic pressures.

HCSB Financial in South Carolina recently raised $45 million from a group led by Castle Creek Capital Partners, showing that big investors are still comfortable placing bets on financial firms. The challenge for banks like HCSB will be to find ways to put that capital to work years after other institutions were able to start playing offense.

Six years ago the family that controlled Home State Bancorp in Colorado said they were in it for the long haul. But, after a methodical review process tied to estate planning, family members decided to cash in their holdings.

Harmony Bank in Jackson, N.J., has exited the Small Business Lending Fund. The $ 295 million-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it paid about $3.5 million to redeem roughly 3,500 shares of preferred stock.

Biscayne Bank in Miami, a community bank that focuses on serving high-net-worth individuals from the Caribbean and Latin America, has been named as an intermediary in the Panama Papers leak.

Requiring the bank regulators to disclose the numerical grades they give for capital, assets and other factors would subject them to the same market discipline they demand for banks.

Grant Bancshares in Natchitoches, La., has agreed to buy Tri-State Bank and Trust in Haughton, La.

Huntington Bancshares is the latest institution to add a cybersecurity expert to its board, highlighting the growing importance of guarding against hackers and other online dangers.

Seacoast CEO Dennis Hudson, in a letter to the company's biggest shareholder, touted improved performance while questioning the timing of the investor's push for a sale.

A pair of Massachusetts thrifts have bought insurance agencies.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles is the latest bank to exit its loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

BBCN Bancorp in Los Angeles will rebrand itself as Hope Bancorp after buying Wilshire Bancorp. The $8.1 billion-asset BBCN also plans to change the name of its banking subsidiary to Bank of Hope after the deal closes.

As more fintech companies seek bank charters in the U.S., acquiring a community bank is one potential option.

Seattle, with great demographics and low unemployment, is an attractive market, but M&A is constrained by a dearth of locally owned banks.

Approval from the Federal Reserve Board is all that stands between Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., and two acquisitions that will add $6.1 billion in assets.

BancAlliance, a network of community banks that has been snapping up loans from LendingClub, is weighing whether to suspend purchases on the online platform after the company said it's overhauling internal controls.