ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Lexington Avenue FCU said this morning it is the recipient of a free branch from First Niagara Bank, including title to the building and all its furnishings and technology, ensuring the surrounding low-income Joseph Avenue community will have continued access to convenient financial services.

CINCINNATI – The Northwest Local School District’s two high schools opened in-school credit unions Jan. 10 in partnership with Cincinnati Police FCU.

ROCKY HILL, Conn. – Nutmeg State FCU is poised to open new branches in two area Walmarts, in Bristol and Cromwell.

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Virginia Commerce and Hanmi Financial are mulling sales after turnarounds, decisions that surprise some but could make sense for the select group of banks with just the right balance of size, appeal and reason to sell.

Bank of America's (BAC) board has reached a $62.5 million settlement of a lawsuit that stems from the bank's purchase of Merrill Lynch in 2009.

The $627 million-asset bank said Monday that it had named Kay Whitaker as its chief financial officer. She will succeed Laurinda Swank, who is shifting to the newly created post of chief accounting officer, a company spokeswoman said.

Synovus Financial Corp. (SNV) settled a shareholder lawsuit over more than $200 million in bad loans to Georgia luxury resort Sea Island Co. that the investors say were approved with a "golf course handshake" between executives of the two companies.

Rob McMillan, a wine industry expert at Silicon Valley Bank who moonlights in a rock band, dances to a different banking drummer.

With North Jersey Community the latest bank to change its name, we ask marketing experts to look at the pros and cons of rebranding.

Regions Financial (RF) in Birmingham has chosen Prudential Financial (PRU) to be the service provider for its wealth management group divisions that handle institutional and private clients.

Amy Friend, the former chief counsel of the Senate Banking Committee who previously worked at the OCC, will succeed Julie Williams as the agency's chief counsel.

EverBank Financial in Jacksonville, Fla., has added lenders to boost business with buyers and sellers of technology equipment.

Expertise alone is insufficient without experience, and its byproduct: a "gut" feeling that enables a lender to separate the good credit applicant from the bad, the legitimate from the "con".

The president and six former officers of a failed Savannah, Ga., bank were indicted on Jan. 11 on charges of fraud and conspiracy related to failed commercial loans.

Banks, subprime lenders and borrowers had varying reactions to the agency's long-awaited ruling on qualified mortgages.

Mortgage delinquencies have jumped about about four times the U.S. average in areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, according to Lender Processing Services.

The Obama administration has ruled out minting money as a way to sidestep the nation's borrowing limit. The Treasury Department will not produce a trillion-dollar platinum coin to pay the federal government's bills, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

VantageSouth Bank's team of seasoned construction lenders will only target the most qualified builders in communities where demand for new homes is high, executives say.

Virginia Commerce Bancorp in Arlington is considering selling itself. The $3 billion-asset company said Monday its board would review various alternatives to increase shareholder value, including a possible sale.