The leading Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee said Tuesday he was "optimistic" about lawmakers' making changes to improve the Dodd-Frank Act next year, while lauding JPMorgan Chase's decision to raise its minimum wage from $10.15 an hour to $12.

BancAlliance, a consortium of more than 200 community banks, is partnering with the digital wealth management firm Personal Capital.

Offering a new product or considering a merger may boost returns, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says changes in strategy can be risky.

The management team at Bank of the Ozarks knows it has a dependency on commercial real estate. But they assert that sound underwriting, and efforts to diversify, are what really matters when assessing risk.

First Hawaiian Bank in Honolulu will be spun off rather than sold.

An industrywide springtime boomlet in business activity shed some of its momentum in June, according to the latest reading of American Banker's Index of Banking Activity. The IBA's composite index dipped to 54.9, down from 57.0 a month earlier. While that suggests an industry in modest expansion, it also is the weakest reading since January.

Most components of the index declined from their May levels and two of them — both of which track pricing on new lending — slipped below 50, suggesting that banks on balance lost whatever modicum of pricing power they had coming into the month.

In addition, respondents to the June survey were generally cautious about their consumer lending businesses (although a fair share of individual respondents remained upbeat, particularly with respect to auto lending).

All in all, the June results pointed to an industry more guarded in outlook, which is not surprising given the prevalence of concern that events at home and abroad (Brexit) would further postpone interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve.

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Expect banks to pull back on energy lending in the near term, as regulators step up their scrutiny of oil loans and bankers approach the business with a "different attitude," says Mariner Kemper, chairman and chief executive at UMB Financial in Kansas City, Mo.

Small banks are trying to figure out how to provide the digital services today's customers want while still retaining the human touch that distinguishes them from larger rivals. A small bank in Cincinnati says it has hit on the right formula.

The $7.9 billion-asset holding company for Citizens Business Bank said David Farnsworth will start as credit chief of both entities on July 18. He will succeed James Dowd, who retired on July 1.

Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy SinoPac Bancorp from Bank SinoPac in Taiwan.

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The $5.2 billion-asset mutual said in a press release Thursday that Leonard Stekol had become its president. Stekol was also elected a trustee; he will remain chief operating officer.

At least eight small mutuals have agreed in recent years to merge with another institution rather than convert to stock ownership. More deals could be on the way.

Fewer transactions are taking places in branches but banks’ brick-and-mortar locations are more important than ever.

Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill., has agreed to buy First Community Financial in Elgin, Ill.

On the day Maurice Spagnoletti was murdered, his black Lexus sedan was full of balloons. It was June 15, 2011, the day before his wife's birthday, and he was planning a celebration.

Community banks are stepping up efforts to raise cheap capital to fuel loan growth, make acquisitions and redeem pricier sources of funds.

The number of customers who obtained 10 payday loans in 2015 outnumbered those who obtained just one, the California Department of Business Oversight said in a report Wednesday.

HCSB Financial in Loris, S.C., has recruited its third executive since completing a key recapitalization.

Bank consolidation in 2016 continues to lag behind last year's pace, although the average deal value is considerably larger.