Retail & Commercial

Bank of the West is putting a big focus on small-business lending while waiting for the sluggish loan growth environment to improve, says Andy Harmening, a senior executive vice president and regional banking group head. Harmening spoke to American Banker at the annual Best Practices in Retail Banking Symposium.

Bank of Montreal, Canada's fourth-biggest lender, intends to add 1 million customers annually, Chief Executive Officer William Downe said.

Equipment financing, once viewed as cost-prohibitive for smaller banks due to the financial commitment required to build in-house teams, has become more attractive due to opportunities to work with outside firms.

"Financial literacy" typically means educating the unbanked. For Wells Fargo's David Carroll, it means turning the already-banked into prospective wealth-management clients.

First BanCorp (FBP) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has scrapped a plan to swap common stock for a certain type of preferred stock.

Astoria Financial (AF) in Lake Success, N.Y., is planning to redeem $125 million in debt.

Century Bancorp (CNBKA) in Medford, Mass., reported higher first-quarter results from lower credit costs and securities gains.

Young families looking to put down roots in a community must be served if we are going to grow our economy and sustain the housing recovery.

A federal judge is set to rule soon on whether merchantsobject.com is misleading U.S. retailers. The ruling carries important implications for the proposed multibillion-dollar settlement over credit card interchange fees.

WICHITA, Kan. — A federal judge here yesterday dismissed the majority of $590 million of securities claims brought by NCUA against Credit Suisse Securities in the 2009 collapses of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp, dealing the credit union regulator another defeat in its efforts to recoup losses for the biggest credit union failures ever.