Banking

Flushing Financial in Uniondale, N.Y., has raised $21 million in capital after selling an office building.

American National in Danville, Va., has hired the former chief financial officer at NewBridge Bancorp to oversee strategic initiatives.

North Carolina has lost more than 40% of its banks in the past decade, creating a new tier of larger institutions. More deals are expected to occur, raising questions about the pace of M&A and the fate of those bigger banks.

Banks have mainly shied away from programs that invite hackers to scrutinize their applications. But PayPal, Western Union and others who have tried them say bug bounty programs are an effective way of making apps more secure.

Medallion Bank in New York has sold nearly $100 million in prime-credit consumer loans, largely consisted of home improvement and recreational vehicle installment loans, to an unnamed buyer.

The scheme is used by borrowers who don't have enough income to qualify for a regular mortgage, so they apply for a higher-rate non-owner-occupied loan.

Chief information security officers at banks say their top priority is keeping data of all kinds (customer, employee, credit, performance, you name it) safe from attacks. They answered candidly when we asked who or what the greatest risks are.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has opened the door to experimenting with front-end credit risk transfer transactions, but it is not wide enough for some market players.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is keeping lenders in the dark about how it will ensure borrower data is secure and private under the expanded Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements.

North Shore Bank in Brookfield, Wis., has agreed to buy Layton Park Financial Group in West Allis, Wis.

Royal Credit Union on Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Apple Valley, Minn., office of Deerwood Bank.

American Express Co. plans to debut an online loan platform for small-business clients this year, targeting territory occupied by startups like Square Inc. and On Deck Capital Inc.

By October of this year, ATM owners in the U.S. have to replace or upgrade their machines to accept chip cards or face liability for certain types of fraud. But the upgrade and related ongoing maintenance are so expensive that cash-machine operators like Abe Ayesh, who helps manage about 8,000 ATMs mostly on the East Coast, plans to shut down some of them.

While fintech companies are urging federal regulators to create a federal charter that would allow them to follow a single national standard instead of a myriad of state rules, such a benefit will almost certainly come with strings attached, including possible compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act.

Rather than replace bankers with technologists, bankers must return to their original role in the community: help entrepreneurs succeed through connecting capital with good ideas.

American Express plans to debut an online loan platform for small-business clients this year, targeting territory occupied by startups like Square and On Deck Capital.

Royal Credit Union on Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Apple Valley, Minn., office of Deerwood Bank.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that it had combined its $492 million-asset CNB in Centreville, Md., and the $615 million-asset Talbot Bank in Easton, Md., to create Shore United Bank.

Banc of California in Irvine has changed its bylaws to allow for majority voting for directors.

For the second time in six weeks, the online lender Avant is taking steps to reduce the size of its workforce.