The Department of Justice has dropped a deferred money-laundering case against the banking unit of Ocean Bankshares in Miami, the company announced Thursday.

Merger negotiations are starting to resemble job interviews as more bankers hope to retain some level of control after begrudgingly selling their institutions.

The Federal Reserve Board has released Fentura Financial in Fenton, Mich., from an enforcement action.

A California man is scheduled for sentencing today by a federal judge for several Los Angeles bank robberies, including at least one in which he used a gun-shaped cigarette lighter.

Market conditions settled down in July after a spike in long-term rates spooked borrowers and bank executives a month earlier.

Regions Financial is sponsoring the college football museum that opens next year in Atlanta, a priority market for Regions.

KeyWorth Bank in Johns Creek, Ga., has agreed to buy a branch from Signature Bank of Georgia in Sandy Springs.

Pulaski Financial in St. Louis has repurchased $6 million worth of its Troubled Asset Relief Program shares following their auctioning last year by the Treasury Department.

Easier access to credit helped boost small businesses' optimism in the third quarter to its highest point since the recession began, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The chief operating officer of Northrim BanCorp (NRIM) in Anchorage, Alaska, has resigned because of health issues.

BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla., has joined with a factoring company to provide funding to small businesses.

Government authorities say that 70 million Americans are either underbanked and unbanked. Yet many of these people are well served by the financial system. American Banker staffers discuss whether the issue of the financially underserved is overblown and if so what may be behind the trend.

The former chairman and chief executive of Summit Bank in Burlington, Wash., on Wednesday pleaded guilty to hiding millions of dollars in losses from past-due loans.

Despite better-than-expected returns so far, industry observers believe that the Treasury Department will take larger haircuts at is unloads less desirable stakes in banks.

FPB Financial in Port St. Lucie, Fla., has declared a 3-for-1 stock split in an effort to bolster trading activity.

A pair of prominent investors are pursuing opposing strategies in their bank investments: Warren Buffett is buying, while David Einhorn is cutting back.

VantageSouth Bancshares in Raleigh, N.C., plans to sell up to $50 million of preferred stock to leave the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

FNBH desperately needs capital after regulators shot down a plan that had a hefty percentage of debt. The company is hoping an equity infusion by a big investor will help it get on track.

Delmar Bancorp is giving up a 40% stake in itself to an outside investor, who will cancel Tarp shares he won in a Treasury auction. The investor will also invest cash and forgive unpaid Tarp dividends.

The chief executive of Golden Pacific Bancorp in Sacramento has left the company.