Coconut Grove Bank in Miami has appointed Donald Putnam chief lending officer.

This "product" is weakened in the customers' mind when interacting with a living, breathing banker inevitably involves fending off sales pitches.

NewBridge Bancorp (NBBC) in Greensboro, N.C., has completed its redemption of preferred stock tied to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

QCR Holdings (QCRH) in Moline, Ill., has redeemed more preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department under the Small Business Lending Fund.

Bankwell Financial Group (BWFG) in New Canaan, Conn., has agreed to buy Quinnipiac Bank & Trust in Hamden, Conn.

Peoples Financial Services in Scranton, Pa., will begin trading on the Nasdaq on April 2.

The president and chief executive of Town & Country Bank and Trust in Bardstown, Ky., is reportedly stepping down.

The Federal Home Loan banks' Office of Finance said members are borrowing more, yet net income for the system fell from the previous year.

Aquesta Bank (AQFH) in Cornelius, N.C., has formed a holding company.

The Small Business Administration is changing some of its lending rules to expand access to its two main programs.

Diebold is partnering with the $5.5 billion-asset Suncoast CU to test an ATM that reuses consumer-deposited cash for future withdrawals. Tampa, Fla.-based Suncoast is the first financial institution in the U.S. to test the technology.

Community banks are considering issuing their own credit cards as a way to protect their customer relationships and bring in fee income.

Small banks' increased compliance costs could lead to fewer relationship managers, streamlined service models and increased costs of credit. As such, many small business and middle-market customers may simply choose to take their business elsewhere.

Farmers National (FMNB) in Canfield, Ohio, has finally reached a separation agreement with a chief executive it ousted six months earlier.

To make the process fairer to small banks, regulators should issue community bank summaries during the proposal stage, not when releasing final rules. They also should do more outreach to small banks and extend comment periods on major rules, writes the ABA's Hugh Carney.

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Hudson Valley Holding (HVB) in Yonkers, N.Y., announced Friday that the chief administrative officer of its bank is leaving to take the helm of a New York trust.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued two consent orders and terminated 21 enforcement actions in February, according to its latest roundup of regulatory orders.

The Minnesota-based regional bank once invested in community banks but is pulling back from that strategy, as the recent sale of its shares in a Virginia institution illustrated.

The U.S. Post Office should get into banking. With that assertion, agency Inspector General David Williams created quite a stir a few months ago. Behind the proposal are dueling postal officials with very different policy positions and agendas. Plus a murmur of momentum on Capitol Hill. American Banker reporter Kevin Wack explains.