Oriental Financial Group Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has joined a handful of banking companies by raising its quarterly dividend.

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. has named an insider as the president and chief executive of the unit Borel Private Bank and Trust Co.

Though some credit union CEOs continue to express dismay at NCUA in the wake of its announced plan to expand its budget — and many employees' pay — in 2011, others are saying pay increases are a needed investment to avoid having to pay higher costs down the road as a result of insufficiently trained and staffed examination teams.

In less than a year it has transformed itself from a tiny, $75 million-asset bank in Troy that focused on private banking to an almost $2 billion-asset regional player with branches in two states and its sights set on further expansion.

The Federal Trade Commission reached settlements late last week to permanently shut down a Web site that allegedly deceptively touted free government grants for personal expenses or paying off debt.

Superior Bancorp in Birmingham, Ala., is seeking $58 million from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a fund created by the oil company BP to cover damages caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Cambridge, Mass., wants vitality and diversity in its squares, but this may exclude bank branches.

First Southern Bank in Boca Raton, Fla. is realigning its organization to make it easier to expand.

As more community banks gravitate to a strategy of quickly purging bad loans, Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles has something to show for holding out.

As more community banks gravitate to a strategy of quickly purging bad loans, Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles has something to show for holding out.

Despite its pending sale, Cadence Financial Corp. in Starkville, Miss., has been ordered to submit a capital plan to the Federal Reserve Board.

Bank of Kentucky Financial Corp. in Crestview Hills has raised $28.1 million of capital that will go toward repaying the Treasury Department.

United Western Bancorp Inc. of Denver has received a noncompliance letter from the Nasdaq because it has yet to file its third-quarter results.

Private-equity firms willing to fund cash-strapped banks are snatching opportunities from more traditional consolidators.

West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office is seeking $3.9 million from a payday loan lender for making and collecting payday loans in violation of a court order, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The American Bankers Association is set to imminently announce that it has chosen former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating to succeed Edward Yingling as president and chief executive officer next year.

Below is an edited transcript of Nov. 4 conversation between our roundtable participants and American Banker staff members. The participants were Robert Kafafian, the president of the Kafafian Group Inc., Theodore Kovaleff, an analyst at Horwitz & Associates, and Christopher McGratty, an analyst at KBW Inc.'s Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

The cities of Beaverton and Lake Oswego have launched programs this year to move public funds from state investment pools into certificates of deposit at local, civic-minded banks.

The $79 million-asset Santa Rosa, Calif., company said late Friday that it had formed a bank holding company. All stock in the bank was transferred to the company.

People's United Financial Inc.'s acquisition of Smithtown Bancorp Inc. in Hauppauge, N.Y., is set to close Nov. 30.