For the second time in less than a year, Colony Financial Inc. in Los Angeles has raised fresh capital through a stock offering.

With the economy gaining momentum and bank balance sheets improving, bankers gathered in Florida this week for the annual Best Practices in Retail Financial Services Symposium showed a sharp top-line focus.

Speaking at the annual Best Practices in Retail Financial Services Symposium, U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis and Citizens Republic CEO Cathleen Nash urged retail bankers to consider a proactive approach to new industry regulations.

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FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Heritage FCU said it hired MagniFI to design a 30,000-square-foot administrative facility and member center in Newburgh.

WICHITA, Kan. – Mid America CU is offering a different member experience inside its new eastside branch – a 900-square-foot cafe known as Savories Tasty Shop and Coffee House.

More than a year after prepaid company Netspend Holdings Inc. said it had signed a deal with Bancorp Inc., the retail bank said it had begun dolling out the cards.

Northfield Bancorp Inc. in Avenel, N.J., has agreed to buy Flatbush Federal Bancorp Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y., in a deal that will combine two mutual holding companies.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., will raise up to $126.5 million in capital through a preferred stock offering.

The Colorado Bankers Association has launched a website to serve as a resource guide for small businesses. The site has the basics of credit, and lists several types of lenders, besides banks, that serve such borrowers.

BB&T shouldered more risk when it agreed to make its already complex deal for BankAtlantic more complicated. But the risk is manageable -- and worth it, experts say.

Southside Bancshares in Tyler, Texas, will restate its financial results for 2010 and 2011 to reflect an impairment charge for Federal Home Loan Bank option fees and changes in the fair value of certain securities.

As borrower delinquencies rose, TransUnion's Credit Risk Index increased 2.3%, to 123.36 in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter. Despite this uptick, the CRI was down 1.7% year over year.

Guilford County in North Carolina on Tuesday sued Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and MERSCorp over forged and falsified loan documents state official said have hurt property values and upended their own efforts at tracking records.

Until the mid 1980s, most fraud went undiagnosed or misreported. The debate today seems to be whether the increasing digital landscape ends up increasing or decreasing fraud overall.

The Federal Reserve has reached a written agreement with Central Bancorp Inc. in Garland, Texas.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general issued five reports about foreclosure-handling practices at five major U.S. banks: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial.

The window of opportunity to get away with questionable fees on reloadable prepaid cards may be narrowing.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco has opened a trust company in Delaware as it looks to gain a greater market share of affluent households.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has hired a New York banking veteran as chief lending officer and picked a chief credit officer.