When ex-Republic Bank of New York executives Joseph DePaolo and John Tamberlane were sketching out their business plan for what would become Signature Bank, they really had no intention of starting a bank at all.

Simone Lagomarsino has helped turn around a lot of banks, but she'd never seen one in such bad shape. Yet in a phenomenally short amount of time, Lagomarsino has righted the ship at Heritage Oaks Bancorp.

Though many banks have capitalized on the financial crisis, Home BancShares is a leader among that group. It scooped up seven failed banks in Florida and bought two more open, but deeply distressed, ones, a tally few can top.

How nice it is when our capacity for being judgmental starts to be replaced with a capacity for making sound judgments.

From his participation in economic development plans to personally recruiting construction funds and sponsorships for the BOK Center, BOK Financial's retiring CEO, Stanley Lybarger, has been a central figure in the rebirth of downtown Tulsa.

By the time David Marcus became its president last year, PayPal—one of the most successful technology startups of the late 1990s—had taken on the culture of an entrenched player in payments.

He is perhaps banking's leading expert on the subject, but David Saul doesn't much care for the phrase "big data."

In January, customers of the $4.9 billion-asset First Financial Bank in Abilene, Texas, began paying bills by taking a picture of them with a smartphone or tablet. A few months later, U.S. Bank became the first big bank to roll out a photo bill pay service.

Bitcoin has received a lot of attention this year, for all the wrong reasons.

What does it take to be an effective leader? Here's some insight from our bankers of the year, John Stumpf, Simone Lagomarsino, Joseph DePaolo and Johnny Allison.

The 66-year-old chairman of Home BancShares in Conway, Ark., sure does tell it like it is. Here are some of his more colorful quotes and the stories we enjoyed most.

Banks may never be able to restore their reputations after the financial meltdown, the director of the "Wall Street" movies told a Commercial Finance Association gathering. Surely the association wasn't expecting a pep talk.

The U.S. could be at a competitive disadvantage by being less proactive in the area of gender diversity on boards. We’ll need to engage CEOs everywhere to achieve meaningful progress.

Bank of Commerce Holdings (BOCH) in Redding, Calif., has promoted Randall Eslick to be its new president and chief executive.

Tayfun Tuzun recently become the Cincinnati company’s CFO after his predecessor was reassigned as part of an settlement with the SEC. Tuzun is now handling financial reporting at a time when regulation is on the rise.

U.S. bank divestitures hit a 10-year low in 2013, according to a new report by Dealogic.

Bank of Hawaii (BOH) has approved a process where shareholders can pressure directors in uncontested elections.

Atlantic Coast Financial (ACFC) in Jacksonville, Fla., has launched a $42 million public offering.

Pacific Premier is complementing two liquidity-driven acquisitions with the addition of a restaurant-franchise lending company. Such loans are expected to bring the California company higher-yielding loans. It's another example of banks' strong push for new revenue sources.