Banking

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2014 totaled 39,185, a number that should rise by a few hundred as the totals are refined in the coming weeks.

Independent Bank Corp. of Ionia, Mich., is consolidating 14 of its 74 Michigan branches.

Overall consumer litigation against collection agencies and creditors fell in 2014 thanks to a third straight year seeing a decline in Fair Debt Collection Practices Act cases.

Prosperity Bancshares in Houston posted higher quarterly profit despite investor concern about the company's energy loans.

A small Georgia lender has reached a deal to avoid a threatened involuntary bankruptcy, though the resolution is likely to leave key legal questions on trust-preferred debt and bankruptcy unresolved.

Huntingdon Valley Bank in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Victory Bank in Limerick, Pa., have called off a planned merger of equals.

JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs boosted the cash portion of their leaders' bonuses for the first time since 2010, as a surge in U.S. bank stocks slows.

First Horizon National in Memphis reported lower quarterly profits that were largely due to a dip in fee-based income.

Former Miss America Bess Myerson helped overhaul Citi's consumer loan contracts in the 1970s. Then she turned her attention to cleaning up the bank's collections unit.

First Citizens Banc Corp in Sandusky, Ohio, is changing its name.

Associated Banc-Corp in Wisconsin reported a modest increase in quarterly earnings, and its CEO said it is actively seeking acquisition targets.

ServisFirst Bancshares in Birmingham, Ala., which went public last spring, reported a 27% increase in earnings, to $15 million, in the fourth quarter. It also announced plans to expand into South Carolina.

Independent Bank in Rockland, Mass., reported higher quarterly profits, on lower expenses and revenue increases.

Pinnacle Financial Partners posted strong fourth-quarter numbers thanks to loan growth centered around its Nashville and Knoxville markets in Tennessee.

Local bankers will try to pick up any business that could fall out as a result of the merger. And with one less bank to buy in Southern California, remaining franchises also may command scarcity value.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles reported an increase in fourth-quarter profit, the second full quarter after its April acquisition of CapitalSource Bank, a commercial lender that targeted small and medium-sized businesses.

The $8 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday that David Hooston had returned to the company after a three-month leave to attend to personal family issues.

Capital One Financial posted a 17% rise in net income in the fourth quarter thanks largely to growth in its U.S. credit card business.

BB&T and KeyCorp's quarterly results showed how more diversified regional banks can turn to their insurance sales, investment banking and other fee generators for backup until interest rates improve. Whereas the smaller Huntington Bancshares needed strong loan growth in a quarter (and year) when fees fell.