Loan-loss reserves will soon reach a point of equilibrium with the size and risk profile of loan portfolios, making it harder for banks to reduce provisions.

Our analysis is agnostic on whether the costs are proportional to the benefits. But we find the claim that the CARD Act has had no cost to cardholders to be too hopeful based on current data.

Hancock Holding (HBHC) reported higher quarterly earnings after it cut costs and generated higher fee income.

Regulators took a series of enforcement actions against banks last month in connection with management oversight, capital adequacy and other matters.

Prosperity Bancshares (PB) in Houston ended a year in which it completed five deals and announced another with a jump in profit.

Sterling Financial (STSA) in Spokane, Wash., fell short of fourth-quarter earnings expectations because of a hefty charge for early repayment of debt.

Stimulus spending and Obamacare are making health care a viable way for banks to diversify their loan portfolios.

Iberiabank (IBKC) in Lafayette, La., reported a jump in fourth-quarter profit thanks to higher fee income and lower interest expenses.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has reshuffled its mix of branch office locations, as it enters Arizona and expands in the greater Los Angeles and Seattle areas.

In previous articles I spoke of banking and bankers. The following vignettes present some bank customers I encountered during my banking days, including a rabbi, a nun, a hotshot attorney and a philanderer.

The chairman and chief executive of Coatesville Savings Bank in Pennsylvania has resigned after eight years leading the bank.

Bank of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan said the "underlying fundamentals" of the U.S. economy are still improving and bankers have plenty of funds to lend.

Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., is raising its profile in North Carolina. The $4 billion-asset company announced Friday it is buying The First National Bank of Shelby in Shelby, N.C., for roughly $67.8 million in cash and stock.

Trustmark (TRMK) has received approval from regulators to buy BancTrust Financial Group in Mobile, Ala. The Jackson, Miss., company had waited months for approval to by BancTrust Financial Group (BTFG).

A new chorus of "too big to jail" broke out among the masses as the president prepared to re-nominate Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and CapOne disclosed disappointing earnings.

What the mortgage industry wanted was a clear-cut rule from the CFPB. What it received was 800-plus pages of confusion.

Historically a single-family lender, New York thrift Astoria Financial looks to improve profits by focusing on commercial and multifamily loans.

Citigroup has paused its sweeping cost-cutting program long enough to open a handful of U.S. branches.

President Obama's renomination of Richard Cordray, who has been running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under a controversial recess appointment, is garnering the same GOP concerns expressed when his name was first floated.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender, is targeting wholesale banking in the U.S. after spending nine years building a network of retail branches from Maine to Florida.