A preference for greater simplicity in consumer banking products is one legacy of the financial meltdown, but the challenge for banks is delivering on the promise.

Bill Smith, the head of Capital City Bank Group in Tallashassee, Fla., speaks for many bankers when he says he's ready to start buying banks after eight years on the sidelines -- but not for another 18 months. Or more.

Community Bank of Bergen County in Maywood, N.J., has sold a $3.2 million portfolio of nonperforming loans.

Iberiabank Corp. in Lafayette, La., has named a new chief credit officer.

The bill would replace the misleading risk-based capital system with a straightforward way to determine the true health of an institution, in addition to providing incentives for the largest banks to downsize.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., said Tuesday it has formed a unit within its commercial banking division that will lend money to physicians, dentists, veterinarians and ophthalmologists for practice deals, equipment financing and other capital needs.

Quarterly profit at Cascade Bancorp in Bend, Ore., rose 60% thanks to cost cuts and improvements in asset quality.

A court deadline this week and the failure of two of Capitol's banks last week have added to the Lansing, Mich., company's increasingly tense bankruptcy.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's push to encourage private lenders to refinance student loan debt is raising questions about whether the agency is focusing on the right target.

First Merchants in Muncie, Ind., was looking to get closer — but not too close — to the Chicago market when it agreed to buy CFS Bancorp of Munster, Ind.

Financial journalists sometimes refer to M&A bankers as "rainmakers." Do they make it rain, or do they just take credit when it starts raining?

Old Line Bancshares in Bowie, Md., has appointed Mark Semanie as its chief operating officer to help manage its recent growth.

The U.S. government has charged an Illinois man with overstating by hundreds of thousands of dollars the value of collateral he used to secure loans from a bank that received funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Chicago-area company has started financing employee stock-ownership plans as a way to eke more business out of commercial clients.

A combination of low yields and loosening terms may be setting banks up for trouble in the event of an economic downturn, one of the nation's top credit ratings agencies said Monday.

Bankers truly face a Catch-22 in the lending business these days, thanks to "qualified mortgage" and disparate impact laws.

Hudson Valley Holding Corp. in Yonkers, N.Y. , has named Michael Indiveri its chief financial officer.

First Merchants is buying CFS Bancorp in a deal that would create a $5.6 billion-asset Indiana bank.

The gradual erosion of net interest margins and a compensatory shift toward risky new lending strategies for additional yield is a major factor for high chargeoffs and community bank failures.

JPMorgan Chase's leading directors urged shareholders to reject calls for Jamie Dimon to relinquish his dual role as chairman and chief executive officer, saying it "could be disruptive" and against the best interests of investors.