First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG) is expanding its mortgage operations. The Buffalo, N.Y., company is scheduled to open a processing center next month in Syracuse and hire more than two dozen employees to staff it.

First Mariner Bancorp said it had called off plans to sell a minority stake in itself to Priam Capital Fund I after determining that it could improve its capital levels with retained earnings.

Crescent Financial's updated SEC filing removes previous discussion about how banking regulators "encouraged" its deal with VantageSouth.

Capitol Bancorp (CBCRQ) has been fighting for survival for a few years now, but the next month might prove to be its toughest battle.

Former Amcore president Donald Wilson will become the chairman of Community Financial in Illinois as part of a recapitalization plan.

Regions Financial said it will work with PrimeVest Financial to provide advisory and investment services at all of its branches.

Cathleen Nash lays out Citizens Republic's reasons for selling itself to FirstMerit, and says she expects many more banks to face the same tough choice.

Taylor Capital Group is the third Chicago-area bank to announce a capital raise to fuel growth in the past two weeks.

Fulton Financial (FULT) has acquired a minority stake in Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC), the result of Bryn Mawr's largest shareholder liquidating its holding.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended November 10.

Trillium Asset Management and AFSCME Employees Pension Plan complain that Citigroup's stock price is still too low and it needs to explore the sale of additional business units.

U.S. Bancorp is beefing up its business that administers funds on behalf of investment managers with a deal to buy AIS Fund Administration, a provider of administration services for hedge funds.

State and federal banking regulators encouraged the merger deal between Crescent State Bank and VantageSouth for safety and soundness and other reasons, a proxy filing says.

Great Southern Bancorp in Springfield, Mo., is bucking an industry trend toward fee-based lines of business in agreeing to sell its insurance and travel units.

First York Ban Corp in York, Neb., has agreed to acquire Glenvil Cooperative Credit Union, in a rare acquisition of a credit union by a bank.

CIT Group (CIT) in Livingston, N.J., has launched a unit that will originate and underwrite financing for seafaring vessels.

Lawsuits that charge Goldman Sachs (GD) and Deutsche Bank (DB) with misleading mortgage investors may proceed, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled.

Collection agency iQor Inc. plans to move 500 jobs from a site near Columbus, Ohio to New Albany, Ohio, then add another 300 full-time jobs at the location through 2017.

Polonia Bancorp in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., has finished its stock offering and second-step conversion to a stock-owned company.

American International Group (AIG), which stands to join a list of financial institutions deemed too big to fail, may be looking to unload its thrift unit.