In his first interview since taking over HSBC's U.S. bank late last year, CEO Patrick Burke contends that the U.S. bank could prove to be HSBC's hidden gem provided it focuses on multinational corporate clients and cooperates better with its global affiliates.

BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., has agreed to buy Southcoast Financial in Mount Pleasant, S.C., for $95.5 million in stock.

Pioneer Bancshares in Dripping Springs, Texas, has struck a deal to merge with FC Holdings, the parent company of First Community Bank in Sugar Land, Texas.

Bank of America shareholders will vote Sept. 22 on whether its board was right to grant Chief Executive Brian Moynihan the additional title of chairman last year.

Goldman Sachs Group agreed to acquire an online banking unit from General Electric that has about $16 billion of deposits.

FNBH Bancorp in Michigan has been unable to make an important move without its primary regulator's OK in the six years since its nonperforming assets hit double digits. It's an extreme example of the tension between past problems and future visions that freezes many banks.

The $9.1 billion acquisition of SunGard Data Systems would deepen FIS' bench in banking and asset management services and add products for capital markets, dovetailing with banks' desire to narrow the list of companies that serve them.

C2FO, the operator of an online marketplace for small-business financing, announced a $40 million equity funding round led by a Singapore investment firm.

Wells Fargo may divest its crop insurance business in an auction that could fetch more than $1 billion.

Fidelity National Information Services, a provider of banking and payments technology, agreed to buy software maker SunGard Data Systems in a deal valued at $9.1 billion, including the assumption of debt.

General Electric agreed to sell its health-care finance unit to Capital One Financial for about $9 billion.

The relationship between banks and private equity has been tense at times, but the aid PE firms are supplying to struggling energy firms could limit the losses suffered by lenders.

Shareholders of Lenox National Bank have approved a deal to sell the institution to its western Massachusetts neighbor Adams Community Bank.

Chicago-based Envestnet will pay $660 million in cash and stock for Yodlee, a California firm that sells data-aggregation services to banks and others.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended Aug. 8.

Cascade Bancorp took less than two weeks to integrate its last acquisition, and CEO Terry Zink explains one of the big reasons: officials at the Oregon bank spent months beforehand with an outside firm practicing the conversion.

Ameriana Bancorp in New Castle, Ind., which is being acquired by First Merchants in Muncie, Ind., lowered its second-quarter profit after it discovered the sale required a higher tax payment.

Bank of the West in San Francisco has sold its insurance subsidiary to an insurance brokerage.

ValueAct Capital Management has amassed a stake in American Express, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the activist fund considers pursuing shareholder-friendly changes at the credit-card issuer.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a critical look at the Fed's post-crisis monetary policies and a bid to make the funding community groups receive from banks more transparent.