Western Alliance Bancorp. in Phoenix reported higher fourth-quarter profit on higher commercial and construction lending and improved fee income.

A service that used to be a no-brainer for banks is now hampered by limited revenue and a hard-to-justify cost structure.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

The collapse in oil prices hammered fourth-quarter profits at Hancock Holding as the Gulfport, Miss., sharply boosted its loan-loss provision address weakness in its energy loan book.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. handed community bankers a critical win on Thursday by rescinding a plan to treat reciprocal deposits as brokered deposits in the calculation of small-institution assessments.

F.N.B. in Pittsburgh said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 0.5% from a year earlier, to $37.1 million.

Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., said loan growth and higher returns from its HSA Bank subsidiary helped its fourth-quarter profit rise 4.5% year over year, to $50.6 million.

Aquesta Financial Services in Cornelius, N.C., has acquired an insurance portfolio from James E. Moore Agency in Wilmington, N.C.

ASB Bancorp in Asheville, N.C., has agreed to appoint to its board the activist investor Lawrence Seidman and another representative picked by Seidman.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., is the latest bank to partner with an online lender, announcing an agreement Thursday to refer certain small-business customers to OnDeck Capital.

Millennials may have initially been the primary target for digital banking services, but we must bust the myth that they're the only ones craving innovation.

Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas reported lower quarterly profit that largely reflected an increased provision for energy loan losses.

WestStar Bank in El Paso, Texas, has new leadership after the retirement of Larry Patton, its president and chief executive.

United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga., reported little change in its fourth-quarter profit, as costs from its acquisition of Palmetto Bancshares ate into lending revenue and fee income.

Anthony Weagley is combining a new emphasis on wealth management with Malvern's reputation as a small-town community bank to bolster the Pennsylvania company's financial performance.

Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tenn., has agreed to buy a bigger stake in Bankers Healthcare Group in Southwest Ranches, Fla.

BlueVine, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm that is aiming to modernize the invoice-financing business, announced a new fundraising round on Wednesday.

The Current Expected Loss Credit model will help to quantify bankers' intuition and can be built with readily available data.

Fulton Financial in Lancaster, Pa., reported a slight increase in its fourth-quarter profit as strong fee-income growth helped to offset a decline in its net interest margin.

Wintrust Financial's fourth-quarter earnings fell 7% from a year earlier, to $35.5 million, as a revenue surge failed to offset the higher costs associated with recent acquisitions.