Texas

Santander Consumer Holdings in Dallas on Tuesday appointed William Rainer chairman, and it announced that Blythe Masters has resigned to advise Banco Santander — its Spanish parent company — on the blockchain.

After years of bulking up on shared national credits, a number of regional banks are cutting back because of the heartburn from problem oil and gas loans. A few lenders are refusing to budge, but many will have no choice if they want to dilute the energy risk on their books.

Amegy Bank of Texas in Houston has promoted Laif Afseth from executive director of commercial and industrial lending to president of the company.

The $3 billion-asset First United did not disclose how much it will pay for the $2.3 billion-asset American Bank. The deal is expected to close later this year.

FVCBankcorp in Fairfax, Va., and Independent Bank Group in McKinney, Texas, are raising capital through private and public offerings of subordinated notes.

The rise in oil prices in recent months is welcome news for the energy sector, but it doesn't mean that oil and gas firms — and the banks that lend to them — are out of the woods just yet.

Comerica in Dallas said Tuesday that the head of its business bank is stepping down. J. Patrick Faubion will retire from the bank in January, after serving in his current role for less than a year.

Delinquencies on non-owner-occupied commercial real estate loans ticked up in the first quarter after years of steady declines. Some are shrugging off the increase, saying it was expected given the strong demand for CRE loans, but others say there's good reason to be concerned.

Most banks will be content to let the rate chasers walk if CD rates rise, but they'll still need to hike payouts if they hope to keep pace with the competitors. Question is, how far will they go to retain their best customers?

Recent speculation that Comerica is on the block has sparked a conversation about how regulators would vet the sale of a SIFI.