Fifth Third Bancorp has invested in an online lending firm that makes loans to franchisees of popular retail chains.

When Access National decided it wanted to buy Middleburg Financial in Virginia, it also wanted to talk to David Sokol, a major investor in Middleburg. It is an eye-catching example of how lone investors can control the outcome of community bank deals.

Several community banks are turning their bright ideas into cold hard cash by selling or licensing products to other institutions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized a rule Tuesday that will create a "duty to serve" for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help low- and moderate- income consumers, including encouraging a secondary market for manufactured housing loans.

Some are replacing legends, others are overseeing major mergers or product launches, and at least one big-bank CEO is on the hot seat. These are the industry executives to keep an eye on in the new year.

Both major brands are accelerating a move away from traditional checkout, and all retailers need to make adjustments for the future.

Pacific Premier Bancorp in Irvine, Calif., has agreed to buy Heritage Oaks Bancorp in Paso Robles, Calif.

Gene Bruyette, a co-founder of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, the investment bank that became one of the most prolific advisors on bank merger deals, has died. He was 90.

A former director at Pinnacle Financial Partners who pleaded guilty to insider trading agreed to pay a heftier fine after a judge rejected the initial penalty as being too low.

Banks and data aggregators agree that screen scraping is a practice probably best left behind. In the coming year, the two might get better at sharing data via APIs.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco has bought Gradifi, a two-year old firm that works with small and large companies to help their employees pay down student debt.

Banks aiming to market internally developed products to other banks are also taking steps to become better vendors. Leader Bank, for instance, took more than a year to get its technology and staffing up to snuff before pitching its rent-payment program.

Bankers who are working to transform their institutions for the digital age have a new resource for networking and education.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce stands by its cash-and-stock bid to buy U.S. lender PrivateBancorp and is willing to wait out a market rally to complete the deal, Chief Executive Officer Victor Dodig said.

While other banking laws may be headed to the chopping block, the Community Reinvestment Act can address the needs of communities defined by their economic struggles.

In a move to boost recruitment and retention while keeping up with the corporate Joneses, American Express said it will offer 20 weeks of paid leave to any U.S. employee of either gender who has a child through any means, including adoption and surrogacy. Birth mothers will get an additional six to eight weeks of paid medical leave on top of that.

A New Jersey investor has received approval from the Federal Reserve to significantly boost its stake in MSB Financial in Millington, N.J.

Manufactured housing advocates are "guardedly optimistic" that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will soon issue a long-awaited final rule that they hope will expand the secondary market for mobile homes.

Ally Financial is now making home loans.

The focus of banks' sales practices should be less about unit-based incentives, and more about developing a full relationship with customers and doing what's in their best interest.