JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who got a 74 percent raise for his work in 2013, stands to reap a separate and bigger payday within months.

VantageSouth Bancshares (VSB) in Raleigh, N.C., and Yadkin Financial (YDKN) in Elkin, N.C., are merging.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Banks are reducing their number of branches to increase efficiency and boost sluggish revenue growth, according to a new report from SNL Financial.

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The $300 million-asset bank said in a press release Friday that Theodore Biagini, 73, had been chairman since its January 2007 opening.

A group of 33 senators, mostly Democrats, is urging the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to resume funding for two affordable housing trust funds.

A Florida businessman has been ordered to pay roughly $1 million and spend over a year in prison for defrauding the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

The Oklahoma State Banking Department has closed Bank of Union in El Reno.

The Riverwoods, Ill., company is the second large private student lender in two weeks to announce plans to enter the long-moribund refinancing market.

The Mississippi bank's latest acquisition would take it into the Austin, Texas, market, but CEO Dan Rollins refuses to answer questions from investors and analysts about how quickly it would earn back its dilution of tangible book value.

CEO Gary Crosby believes new technology will help the Buffalo, N.Y., company generate revenue more in line with being a large financial institution. But his $250 million investment pledge didn't sit well with investors who were hoping for cost-cutting.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) of Los Angeles reported earnings of $31.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, an increase of 12.7% from the same quarter a year prior.

State Street Corp., the third- largest custody bank, reported operating earnings that missed analysts' estimates as expenses rose faster than revenue. The shares fell by the most in a year.

The sale represents roughly 73% of the private student loans held by First Marblehead's bank, Union Federal, according to the company's Thursday regulatory filing. Union Federal will receive 103.5% of principal in the deal.

California-based SVB Financial Group (SIVB) announced earnings Thursday of $58.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, a 16.7% increase from the same quarter in 2012.

KeyCorp may ultimately need to buy some niche business lines, or sell its operations in some fringe markets, to cure its efficiency woes.

Richard Davis, the head of U.S. Bancorp, criticized other banks that, he says, are overly dependent on releases of loan-loss reserves to boost earnings.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) gave Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon a 74 percent raise to $20 million last year, bringing his pay closer to where it stood before the board faulted his oversight of botched derivatives bets.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the largest U.S. home lender, agreed to sell more than 40 percent of its insurance brokerage locations to focus bricks-and-mortar operations on higher-growth regions and bigger clients.