Banking

First Bancorp in Southern Pines, N.C., has terminated loss-share agreements tied to a pair of failed-bank acquisitions.

Only a dozen banks still owe the government Troubled Asset Relief Program money, and an unspecified number of others including Reliance Bancshares in St. Louis owe investors who bought their Tarp balances. But Reliance has made problem loans vanish and has a credit line in hand to help retire its $62 million Tarp-related debt.

Randolph Bancorp raised $57 million in a mutual-to-stock conversion and is using the proceeds to fund acquisitions — it closed its first-ever deal in July — and dramatically improve its digital capabilities.

Financial institutions must act on the "urgent and fundamental" need to transform the correspondent banking system, the consulting firm said in an annual report on global payments.

Bankers can bolster investor confidence by showing they are taking a disciplined approach to M&A. That involves thorough due diligence, strong rationales for deals and the ability to step away from the table.

The $8.3 billion-asset CVB said Thursday that it would pay $57.5 million in cash and stock for the $416 million-asset parent of Valley Business Bank.

Johnny Burris, an investment advisor, has been embroiled in a four-year dispute with the bank, his former employer, which he says pressured him to push his clients into the bank's own or favored investment products. JPMorgan, and now Finra, accuse Burris of causing the (three-figure) client loss and neglecting to make his superiors aware of the problem.

Lisa McDougald, the deputy general counsel at the $222 billion-asset BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Leon Holschbach, chief executive at Midland States Bancorp, a $3 billion-asset company in Effingham, Ill., were appointed to the board this summer.

Yahoo says no bank account or card data has been compromised in its massive data breach. Yet hackers could use their ill-gotten personal information about customers to mess with bank accounts.

Fannie Mae employees will be working this weekend to update the agency's automated underwriting machine to process trended data for the first time.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit this week against a Van Nuys, Calif., credit repair company for deceptively marketing its services and charging consumers illegal fees.

Germany-based financial powerhouses Wirecard Group and Commerzbank have teamed up to launch a new financing service enabling online merchants to receive immediate credit for e-commerce sales, rather than waiting days or weeks for transactions to clear.

Six global banks have formed a standards-setting group for using distributed ledger technology developed by Ripple.

Home BancShares co-founder and Chairman John Allison is shrinking his ownership stake in the Conway, Ark., company for estate-planning purposes.

Financial services IT teams must think like cybercriminals and develop an offensive approach to security at a time when threats are growing in frequency and sophistication.

Starting Friday, all U.S. banks should be able to receive same-day payments. But by itself, same-day speed may not be enough to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world.

Farmers Capital Bank in Frankfort, Ky., has announced a plan to restructure its balance sheet.

A compliance-at-all-costs mentality, which is the overarching attitude in many banks, results in overspending and overallocating valuable resources to meet both real and perceived compliance standards.

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 our social media platforms.

CapStar Financial Holdings in Nashville, Tenn., expects to raise net proceeds of $16.6 million in an initial public offering that it plans to spend on growth and other initiatives — perhaps including M&A.