Community and regional institutions' survival could hinge on their ability to access large troves of data.

West Florida Banking is made up of bankers who ran Jefferson Bank of Florida, which is now part of CenterState Banks.

Smaller banks are often not taking the extra step beyond traditional functions such as online bill pay, writes Alberto Hernandez, COO for the U.S. region at Valid.

Branches are closing at the fastest pace in years, and keeping them relevant to customers is a problem banks are being forced to solve in ever more creative ways.

Many banks have already scaled back home lending or even left the business. With profit margins shrinking, inventories of homes at crisis levels and competition from nonbanks intensifying, that’s unlikely to change.

Wider net interest margins compared to a year earlier helped make up for a slight decline in loan balances, as nearly two-thirds of banks reported higher profits in the first quarter.

Speaking at a conference on Wednesday, CFO Howell McCullough mostly ruled out a merger of equals as a growth strategy for the $108 billion-asset Huntington.

A strong economy and the chance to court Hispanic customers and businesses have banks interested in the region once more.

A year after it debuted, Bank of America's virtual assistant now counts some 150,000 users per week. It's one of the few large financial institutions pushing such technology.

Jelena McWilliams said federal bank regulators could begin "within a week or so" to discuss a draft proposal for reforming the Community Reinvestment Act.