Regulatory burdens, technology challenges and long-awaited M&A top the list of what small bank leaders see in the year ahead, according to a KPMG survey. Following are some of the study's key findings.

After clashing with regulators and being blacklisted by many banks and credit unions, many emerging-payments companies are seeking a warmer welcome outside the U.S.

Bank investor Kenneth Lehman plans to buy a controlling stake in Marine Bank & Trust Co. in Vero Beach, Fla.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken a cautious approach to its oversight of payday lenders so far, but is likely to issue new regulations covering the industry next year, according to several observers.

Commonwealth Bancshares in Louisville, Ky., is offering a $2,500 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed the son of a bank employee.

Banks shouldn’t feel forced to place all their bets on one platform or another. In the shorter term, successful future models of banking will be hybrids.

Two key players in the I Works scheme that allegedly took more than $275 million from consumers via deceptive trial memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated federal law.

Waterstone Financial (WSBF) in Wauwatosa, Wis., has opened its first branch outside its home state.

First Internet Bank (INBK) in Indianapolis raised $29.1 million through a public offering.

Heartland Financial USA's unusual acquisition of Freedom Bank in Sterling, Ill., seems to be more about collecting on a debt than strategic M&A. Such moves are uncommon but have happened in the last few years — and they can work.

Financial planning firm Waddell & Reed is partnering with BOK Financial (BOKF) to provide expanded trust services to its clients.

The Senate Banking Committee is making progress toward drafting legislation to overhaul the mortgage finance market, but one of the biggest unresolved issues is how much skin in the game private market participants must have in return for a government guarantee.

In a letter to servicers, a top CFPB official requests that student loan servicers show the options they've made available to borrowers who want to make extra payments on their loans.

The community development group Boston Community Capital is urging lawmakers to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act before it expires at the end of the December.

Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. (ACFC) in Jacksonville has priced its public offering at a slight discount to its trading price.

Commercial loan officers must use judgment in discussions and email exchanges with property moguls, whose lawyers will construe statements and written correspondence in a way most favorable to the borrower.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) should turn over a draft complaint used as the lender negotiated a $13 billion deal to settle probes of its mortgage-bond sales and identify an employee who cooperated with the U.S. investigation, according to lawyers for a Pennsylvania bank.

The small-dollar lender First Cash Financial Services (FCFS) has agreed to buy a 12-store pawnshop chain in the Charleston, S.C., area.

State Bank Financial CEO Joe Evans has hired an ex-colleague, fund manager David Brown, to help lead the next stage of the Atlanta bank's M&A strategy.

The short-term consumer loan product will either have to be overhauled or ditched in the wake of new regulatory guidance.