First Merchants Corp. in Muncie, Ind., has agreed to buy Ameriana Bancorp in New Castle, Ind.

IMGCAP(1)]

Citizens Community Bank in South Hill, Va., has redeemed about 75% of its outstanding preferred stock in the Small Business Lending Fund.

CircleBack Lending, an online marketplace that offers installment loans to consumers, has completed its first securitization deal, the Boca Raton, Fla., firm said Friday.

Many in the banking industry on Friday voiced support for the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage nationwide and discussed how it would have an impact on their businesses.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service is raising the cost of its home-loan guarantees that enable borrowers to purchase homes in certain areas without down payments.

Juniata Valley Financial in Mifflintown, Pa., has agreed to buy FNBPA Bancorp in Port Allegany, Pa.

Porter Bancorp in of Louisville, Ky., has adopted a plan to preserve the value of its deferred tax benefits, designed to allow the company to continue the use of net operating loss carryforwards.

Citigroup has agreed to acquire Brooks Brothers' credit card portfolio and issue cards on behalf of the clothing retailer.

MidSouth Bancorp in Lafayette, La., has promoted the son of Chief Executive Rusty Cloutier to president of MidSouth Bank.

After scaling back its U.S. operations, Popular Inc. plans to focus on niche commercial lending markets, including financing for elder care and assisted living facilities.

First Bancorp in Southern Pines, N.C., has redeemed about half of its shares in the Small Business Lending Fund.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including a proposal to regulate banks based on their activities rather than size and a plea for members of Congress to take action to help community banks.

The National Branded Prepaid Card Association has selected a new president.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and from our social media platforms.

Banks need to take a hard look at the age-old practice of using signatures to authenticate card payments, Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell said Thursday.

Banks have faced increased scrutiny of their treatment of customers since the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and BB&T and others have proven that the process can be managed. Old fights with regulators can be put in the past if banks work hard at it.

Despite some silver lining, analysts say the Supreme Court decision upholding "disparate impact" in fair-lending disputes will only embolden activists and regulators to bring more cases.

During a hearing Thursday, Democrats wanted to talk about anything but allegations of employee discrimination at the CFPB raised by recent American Banker articles. Instead, they wanted to focus on alleged discrimination by banks and other companies.

The CFPB updated database includes more than 7,700 consumer narratives of problems faced when dealing with financial companies - including collection agencies and credit card issuers. More than half of consumers who have complained since March chose to share details.