Berkshire Hills Bancorp (BHLB) has hired a team of five away from TD Bank to open its first commercial banking office in eastern Massachusetts.

Robin McGraw, chief executive of Renasant in Tupelo, Miss., celebrated his deal for First M&F and the University of Mississippi football team's recruiting coup.

Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Barbara Boxer of California have reintroduced a bill that Democrats argue would help millions of borrowers refinance their mortgages.

Renasant's willingness to pay a premium for First M&F, a small bank in the Deep South, indicates just how hungry banks are to put capital to use.

Breaking up the biggest banks would be futile, onetime Citigroup (NYSE:C) eminence and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said on Thursday.

Banks with at least $10 billion in assets approved 15.3% of loans between $25,000 and $3 million in January, up from 14.9% in December and from 11.7% a year earlier, according to an index published Thursday by Biz2Credit

Any new state laws on the issue would likely strengthen the bargaining power of Visa and MasterCard in negotiations with retailers over swipe fees.

In its latest billboard ad, the Colorado bank is comparing itself to an institution that makes nearly anyone look good.

State legislators want to give Bank of North Dakota authority to originate and service mortgages for rural community banks.

Darrell Fletcher is leader of the Columbus, Ohio, company's new commodities hedging service and its third specialty hire from another bank in recent months.

The Treasury Department has decided to cancel the auction of Coastal Banking Company's Troubled Asset Relief Program shares after the bank received approval to pay dividends.

Industry veteran Al Celini expects plenty of challenges, but a shorter commute and fewer crises, as the new chief risk officer at Sun National Bank.

Renasant in Tupelo will buy First M&F in Kosciusko in a merger of Mississippi banks.

Visa posted a fiscal first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as consumer card spending accelerated.

JPMorgan Chasereclaimed the No. 1 title by market value, nudging Wells Fargo, as the impact of last year's wrong-way bet on derivatives fades and investors wager on an investment-banking rebound.

Visa's (NYSE: V) quarterly earnings increased by 26% from a year earlier, and its financial outlook for 2013 has also brightened, the company said Wednesday.

PNC Financial Services Group (PNC) has agreed to review mortgage loan applications in eight Northeastern states as part of a settlement over allegations that the company discriminated against a prospective borrower who was on maternity leave.

Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., will look to give its shareholders better liquidity this year, but it is not reconsidering an initial public offering.

The Cincinnati company is teaming up with an Oregon placement agency to help its unemployed mortgage customers find jobs and, it hopes, get caught up on their monthly payments.

Customers Bank is buying a commercial loan portfolio based in New England from Flagstar. The deal would reunite Jay Sidhu with some valuable former employees.