Texas

Amarillo National Bank, No. 12 in the overall ranking, is No. 3 in the category for banks with $3 billion to $10 billion of assets.

Popular with employees: Employees submit ideas to improve the bank through an intranet site. The reward for ideas that get implemented is a cash prize ranging from $25 to $1,000.

Popular with employees: Employees team up by branches and departments to develop a theme for the Halloween costume contest.

Fitness/wellness program: Allegiance provides a medical concierge service to all employees on site or in their homes.

Popular with employees: Last year Happy State gave more than $101,000 to help employees in crisis with medical expenses, car repairs and mortgage payments.

Popular with employees: Trivia questions go out the Friday before every Texas Tech football game. The first three employees to respond with the correct answers win a prize, such as gift cards, game tickets and Texas Tech apparel.

Months after advocating for a blockbuster sale of Comerica, Hudson Executive Capital has slashed its stake in the company, as chatter about a potential deal has fizzled. Still, the firm is credited with pushing the struggling regional bank to adopt a surprisingly aggressive turnaround plan.

The $13.1 billion-asset parent company of PlainsCapital Bank named William Furr CFO, effective Sept. 1.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings again delayed its second-quarter results and financial statement due to ongoing discussions with federal regulators about accounting issues.

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., disclosed the identities of directors nominated to its board by two investor groups.

The chairman of First National Bank of Santa Fe has accepted additional duties ahead of the bank's upcoming merger.

The spike in the Libor rate is a boon for banks that have lots of floating-rate loans tied to the well-known benchmark. Shifts in money market funds are the driver, with the big question being how long the run will last.

Some observers are concerned that borrowers in energy-dependent regions, in an effort to compensate for pay cuts, are becoming overleveraged. But lenders say they are being prudent.

The $1.1 billion-asset bank said in a press release Monday that it appointed Ron Coben to become its interim chief executive, succeeding Jeffrey Wilkinson, who resigned "to pursue his next entrepreneurial challenge.

Many energy lenders are paring back exposure to the energy sector, creating opportunities for banks like First Horizon and Bank of the Ozarks.

Lending margins are once again contracting thanks to a confluence of factors, and bankers are doing everything from shifting cash into higher-risk securities to reconfiguring branches to pad profits.

Count BBVA Compass as another bank that has suffered this year from bad energy loans.

The $1.8 billion-asset Sunflower expects to combine with the $2.2 billion-asset Strategic Growth to create a company with $3 billion in loans and 60 branches in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas.

Some midsize banks found ways to widen margins, and Texas lenders said weakness in the energy sector has had little effect on the broader Texas economy. But can those trends hold up?

The energy sector downturn led to lower second-quarter profit at Prosperity Bancshares in Houston, which continued to shrink the size of its book of oil and gas loans in response.