Retail & Commercial

The $1.1 billion-asset parent company of First Federal Savings Bank said late Thursday that First Security Bank of Owensboro has terminated a deal to buy four First Federal branches in Louisville.

If regulators continue to sting banks with overzealous enforcement actions and ill-conceived policies, they, like the scorpion in Aesop's fable, could find themselves up the creek without a frog or paddle.

Republic Bancorp (RBCAA) of Louisville, Ky., and FedFirst Financial Corp. (FFCO) of Monessen, Pa., are planning to return more of their capital to shareholders as the fiscal cliff looms.

The Senate late Thursday confirmed the top two senior officials to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. following months of uncertainty.

First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG) is expanding its mortgage operations. The Buffalo, N.Y., company is scheduled to open a processing center next month in Syracuse and hire more than two dozen employees to staff it.

First Mariner Bancorp said it had called off plans to sell a minority stake in itself to Priam Capital Fund I after determining that it could improve its capital levels with retained earnings.

Sandy is likely to roil delinquencies in the next month or so, but issuers posted another round of strong reports for October.

Bankers may have fallen out of love with the Obama administration, but they're still hoping that its next Treasury Secretary will solve some of their problems.

Crescent Financial's updated SEC filing removes previous discussion about how banking regulators "encouraged" its deal with VantageSouth.

The move should improve liquidity for the $1.3 billion-asset Chemung's shares, Ronald M. Bentley, Chemung's president and chief executive, said in a news release Wednesday.