ESSA Bancorp (ESSA) in Stroudsburg, Pa., has agreed to a buy most of First National Community Bancorp's (FNCB) retail operations in Monroe County.

The $557 million-asset company announced Monday that Holland will become chief credit officer for its SouthCrest Bank unit. He succeeds Kent Berry, who retired this year.

With interest rates rising, lenders are pushing hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages again. Lenders say borrowers like the lower monthly payments and the loans no longer have the onerous interest-only or balloon features that contributed to the housing crisis.

Since bursting onto the financial regulatory scene two years ago, Benjamin Lawsky has fined banks hundreds of millions of dollars over money-laundering allegations, temporarily banned big consultants from operating in his state, shaken up the force-placed insurance market and clamped down on payday lenders. In the process, New York State's Superintendent of Financial Services has sometimes stepped on the toes of fellow regulators. Following are quotes from a wide-ranging interview that National Editor Maria Aspan conducted recently with the 43-year-old former prosecutor and longtime aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Delanco Bancorp (DLNO) in Delanco, N.J., will convert from a mutual thrift to a fully public company.

The German Finance Minister has ruled that Bitcoin is a “currency unit” and a form of “private money," and that the digital currency's users should pay sales tax as well as capital gains tax, Ars Technica reported on Aug. 18.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ignoring billions of dollars in potential losses on delinquent loans as they take three years to adopt a new accounting system, a government auditor said in a letter made public today.

Independent Bank (IBCP) in Ionia, Mich., plans to raise up to $86 million through a common stock offering.

Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) has agreed to buy Beech Street Capital, a mortgage firm that specializes in government-insured and multifamily loans.

BNCCorp (BNCC) in Bismarck, N.D., named Timothy Franz its permanent chief executive less than a month after he become interim CEO.

Delmar Bancorp in Salisbury, Md., has worked out an arrangement to redeem preferred stock from an outside investor.

Donald Wilson, chairman of Community Financial Shares (CFIS) in Glen Ellyn, Ill., has been appointed the company's president and chief executive.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency took six enforcement actions and ended several others last month, the agency said Friday.

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

The combination of Mercantile and Firstbank is expected to break the bank M&A logjam in Michigan. The combined company will be on the lookout for more deals, executives say.

A Colorado agricultural lender argues that the name of Green Dot's mobile bank account is too similar to its own for the prepaid card marketer to be awarded a trademark.

Bitcoin users who help maintain the digital ecosystem's official record of transactions may soon find themselves required to register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as administrators of the alternative currency.

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A federal judge raised the possibility that banks will have to repay billions of dollars to merchants, but legal experts say the court lacks the authority to enact such an order.

Merrill Lynch & Co., the 99-year-old firm known for its "thundering herd" of brokers pitching stocks to Main Street, may cease to exist as a legal entity more than four years after being acquired by Bank of America Corp.