SouthCrest Financial Group in Woodstock, Ga., has agreed to sell its only Alabama branches to Guardian Credit Union in Montgomery, Ala.

MainStreet Bancshares in Fairfax, Va., has hired a veteran Virginia banker as its president.

The Farm Service Agency and the Small Business Administration seem to be taking longer to approve guarantees for loans to facilities that house livestock, creating another headache for bankers.

Commercial mortgage lenders, and investors in their bonds, have been more eager than the residential market to embrace Property Assessed Clean Energy loans even though those loans hold a superior-lien position. Here's why.

Franklin Financial Network in Franklin, Tenn., has filed plans to raise up to $62 million in a common stock offering.

AgriBank in St. Paul, Minn., is removing "interim" from the title of its chief executive.

Glacier Bancorp in Kalispell, Mont., will enter Arizona after buying TFB Bancorp in Yuma.

The $1.8 billion-asset parent of Cambridge Trust said in a press release Tuesday that Michael Carotenuto started as CFO on Monday. He succeeds Albert Rietheimer, who is retiring after serving as CFO since 2005.

Northern Trust on Tuesday promoted Michael O'Grady to president. O'Grady currently serves as head of corporate and institutional services at the Chicago-based custody bank, overseeing businesses such as asset servicing and investment management.

The digital-advice startup SigFig has now teamed up on robo-advisory offerings with Wells Fargo and UBS, while BlackRock's FutureAdvisor has lined up agreements with U.S. Bancorp, BBVA and others.

PeoplesBank in York, Pa., has hired Charles T. Field as its chief financial officer. The $1.5 billion-asset bank said in a press release Tuesday the Field will also be treasurer of its parent company, Codorus Valley Bancorp.

Bay Bancorp in Columbia, Md., is defending itself against claims it should be held responsible for embezzlement that allegedly took place at a bank it recently bought.

Following the regulatory orders against Wells Fargo and the resignation of its CEO, stockholders are likely to ask whether the board has responsibility and even liability for the bank's compliance failures.

The former chief executive of NOVA Bank in Berwyn, Pa., will serve more than two years in a federal prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Refusing to let innovators experiment in a permissive environment keeps regulators in the dark, and ultimately, prevents progress in financial services.

A group of online consumer loans that were packaged into bonds is going bad faster than lenders and bond underwriters had expected, the latest sign that some startups that aimed to revolutionize the banking industry underestimated the risk they were taking.

Little Bank in Kinston, N.C., has agreed to buy its first bank. It will pay $30.7 million, or $11.94 a share, for the $298 million-asset Union Banc in Oxford, N.C.

The founder of Sterling Bancshares in Poplar Bluff, Mo., has resigned a month after he being placed on administrative leave.

Betting the farm on record crop, livestock and dairy prices has turned into a losing investment for an expanding share of America's agricultural heartland. The level of debt to income is the highest in three decades, and growers are increasingly unable to make loan payments.

Aaron Vermut has resigned as chief executive of Prosper Marketplace, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Vermut stepped down last week but will remain a director at the San Francisco-based online lender, according to the report, which cites unnamed sources.