Growth strategies

The number of mergers approved in the first quarter was down significantly but experts are unsure of how long that will last.

The Tampa-based institution says it is poised for growth, but the new asset class also opens it up to additional scrutiny from the CFPB.

One consultant offers tips on how to better understand – and compete with – new entrants to the financial services marketplace.

Enloe State Bank in Texas becomes the first bank to fail in 17 months; BB&T dangles promise of bonus payments to top executives if they stay; where JPMorgan Chase’s Finn experiment went wrong; and more from this week’s most-read stories.

Columbia plans to incorporate certain aspects of Stewardship Financial's charitable giving into its own foundation.

The North Dakota company agreed to buy the $90 million-asset Prairie Mountain Bank.

DNB had been facing pressure from an activist investor to consider selling itself.

The company will pick up five branches as part of the $48 million deal.

The regional bank has begun closing branches in Chicagoland as part of a plan to reduce its net number of brick-and-mortar offices by up to 15% even as it looks to expand in the Southeast.

The New Jersey bank is entering a business dominated by larger players. In doing so, it could create a blueprint for other small banks.

The company has agreed to buy Trinity Bancorp for $27 million in cash and stock.

Santander Bank and Santander Consumer USA have put many problems behind them in recent years under CEO Scott Powell, but he still has a Federal Reserve enforcement action to resolve and is negotiating with Fiat Chrysler to preserve a crucial auto lending relationship.

The credit union movement is uniquely positioned to partner with the U.S. Postal Service as a way to increase consumers' access to affordable financial services.

Midsize banks are more profitable overall than both their smaller and larger counterparts, and the strategy that some of the best performers in this group use to stand out is specialization.

Embers Credit Union and Upper Michigan Community CU will open their doors as a merged institution on June 3, nearly a year after members voted to approve the deal.

The bank will have about $1 billion in assets after it acquires Lighthouse Bank, which is also based in Santa Cruz.

SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers on Thursday explained the direction he and BB&T chief Kelly King are going with the new name, but gave no hints on what it is or when it will be unveiled.

Speaking at a conference on Wednesday, CFO Howell McCullough mostly ruled out a merger of equals as a growth strategy for the $108 billion-asset Huntington.

Having already recently absorbed Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai FCU, Credit Union of Southern California is now set to pick up tiny FedONE FCU.

More businesses are considering moving away from cash and checks, according to a recent survey by Citizens. That should be a wake-up call to smaller institutions, said Michael Cummins, who oversees treasury solutions at the regional bank.