New York

Signature Bank in New York reported a sharp decline in quarterly profits after suffering steep losses on its Chicago portfolio of taxi medallion loans.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta has agreed to buy the multifamily lending business of Pillar Financial in New York.

Profit improved at M&T Bank in the third quarter as the Buffalo, N.Y., company expanded commercial and mortgage lending and completed the sale of a large investment-securities portfolio.

A nearly double-digit increase in net interest income helped third-quarter profit increase by 12.9% at VSB Bancorp in New York.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Pittsfield, Mass., plans to accelerate its growth in upstate New York by opening regional headquarters in Albany.

Community bankers say that reclassifying "reciprocal deposits" as a less risky type of deposit will help them to compete with large banks. Some deposit brokers are crying foul, arguing that the proposed legislation would put them at a competitive disadvantage. Observers, meanwhile, say the bill is so narrowly written that it would hardly affect competition.

Bankers already scrambling to comply with a number of different federal cybersecurity standards are raising concerns about a proposal from New York to layer on some additional state rules.

Medallion Bank in New York has sold its asset-based lending division to an unnamed buyer.

When the movie "Equity" arrived in theaters — with women in the leading roles as Wall Street executives — Barbara Byrne had her name in the credits. The project is just one of the distinctive ways that Byrne, Barclays' vice chairman of investment banking, has been promoting gender diversity. She is motivated to make a difference and tries to choose projects that will have a big impact.

Meet JPMorgan Chase's new general counsel. Stacey Friedman, a tough financial litigator who also fights for social justice, is the only woman to serve as the general counsel of a systemically important U.S. bank. From crisis-era legal strategy to a recent failed grade on a living will, she embraces every challenge. But one of her proudest accomplishments is unrelated to banking: a pro bono case she helped win to stop a ban on same-sex couples adopting children.