Fueled by a lower provision for loan losses and rising net interest income, Cathay General Bancorp's profits surged more than 68% in the fourth quarter, to $23.6 million, from a year earlier.

SunTrust Banks Inc. has acquired FirstAgain LLC, an online lender that targets superprime borrowers.

Tom Miller's statement Monday came amid growing speculation that an agreement is close.

Zions Bancorporation's fourth-quarter earnings fell short of analysts' estimates as vastly improved asset quality could not offset declining interest income and a sharp drop in fee income.

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First Independent Bank has notified employees whose jobs will be eliminated after the Vancouver, Wash., bank is sold to Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane, Wash.

Magyar Bank in New Brunswick, N.J., the principal subsidiary of Magyar Bancorp, disposed of $6.3 million in real estate owned assets last year.

Caliber Funding LLC in Irving, Texas, is talking with several loan officers and support staff who worked at MetLife Home Loans and may wind up hiring upward of 300 full-timers, according to officials familiar with the situation.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission said Monday they have signed an agreement to coordinate their rulemaking and enforcement activities.

Northwest Bancshares Inc. in Warren, Pa., said Monday that its fourth-quarter profits climbed 19%, to $15.2 million, from a year earlier as credit quality improved and fee income from trust and insurance services rose.

Community Bank System Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y., is planning to raise $50 million in a stock sale primarily to fund its acquisition of 19 upstate New York branches from rival First Niagara Financial Group Inc.

Elevated chargeoffs on commercial real estate loans and slightly increased expenses caused City Holding Co.'s fourth-quarter profits to dip 2%, to $9.7 million, from a year earlier.

Last week's wave of acquisitions involving sellers with less than $500 million in assets could present an opportunity for investors who want to get in on consolidation but lack the large sums of cash held at private equity firms.

Cautious executives at big regionals offer strict criteria for dealmaking, emphasize internal growth and play up niche targets in sharing their M&A outlooks.

The big banks' mortgage woes keep piling up, in a backlog that is likely to drag down their profits — and a broader housing recovery — for the foreseeable future.

Bank of America Corp., the second biggest U.S. lender by assets, may trim annual costs by as much as an additional $3 billion in the next stage of Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan's efficiency plan.

Former Google CIO Douglas Merrill believes his firm, ZestCash, can jump-start the subprime lending market with an alternative underwriting engine that uses thousands of consumer data points and proprietary math to aid loan decisions.

Industry observers agree that the bureau's authority will be challenged in court, but it's unclear when and where the lawsuit will come from.

Bank of Hawaii Corp. in Honolulu said Monday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 3.4% from a year earlier, to $39.2 million, as a decline in credit costs and higher net interest income could not offset a steep drop in fee income.

"Rich" Cordray (as his sidekick Raj Date calls him) is being unfairly stigmatized by press references to him as "5-time Jeopardy winner." As if that were his greatest qualification!