First Bank has agreed to sell eight of its 19 branches in Florida to the $521 million-asset HomeBanc in Lake Mary, Fla., First Bank said Thursday. It will also close another three branches, two in Hillsborough County and one in Pasco County.

Mega-banks dominate the world of naming rights for sports stadiums (think Citi Field, home of the New York Mets). But community banks' names adorn stadiums, too.

Rather than invest heavily in one big risky project, banks should concentrate on many small innovations, beta test them and invest where customer feedback is positive.

After a stock offering fell short of expectations, Sierra Vista Bank (SVBA) in Folsom, Calif., plans to raise about $1.7 million through a securities purchase agreement with Taylor International Fund.

A battle over Senate procedures and the FDIC's absence from the debate were viewed as contributing to blocking a bill to extend the TAG program.

Flush with capital from a recent stock sale, Northeast has launched an online bank, established a nationwide loan-purchasing unit and, most recently, opened a mortgage office in Massachusetts.

Synovus, a Georgia-based company, and CEO Kessel Stelling should be able to devote more resources to loan growth, industry observers say.

A dispute in North Dakota over assessment fees for its state-owned bank could stymie efforts to open similar banks elsewhere.

TCF Financial (TCB) in Wayzata, Minn., plans to raise $100 million by selling preferred equity at $25 a share.

The Treasury said Thursday that it should gross about $23.8 million from auctioning stakes in seven participants in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The expected proceeds would represent a 9% discount from the nearly $26 million that the government originally invested in those banks.

Banks are assuming greater risk on the strategic side, by entering unfamiliar product territory, and on the cost side, by devoting fewer resources for risk management.

Small-business owners are likely to pull back on purchases of computers, machinery and other long-term investments in 2013, according to a survey released Thursday by Wells Fargo (WFC) and Gallup.

Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga., has sold roughly $530 million of problem assets and expects to take a pretax charge of $155 million tied to the move.

Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma and BBCN Bancorp in L.A. rewarded workers by letting them film "Gangnam Style" videos — and customers and YouTube watchers dug 'em.

Joe L. Albritton, the longtime chairman and chief executive at Riggs National Bank in Washington, died of heart failure Wednesday in a Houston hospital, according to the Washington Post. He was 87.

BB&T (BBT) has created a new south Texas region and named a longtime employee as its president.

The Washington Business Hall of Fame recently inducted Eagle Bancorp CEO Ron Paul, and the World Affairs Council of San Antonio will fete Cullen/Frost CEO Dick Evans as its citizen of the year for 2013.

The House passed a bill by voice vote Wednesday that would exempt banks from sending out privacy notices to customers if the disclosures haven't changed from the prior year.

If U.S. banks can decrease costs in routine transactions, they will be able to serve mass segments more profitably and invest disproportionately in high-margin services for the affluent.

The good cop-bad cop routine works in bank M&A, says Prosperity CEO David Zalman, who misses his "good guy" Dan Rollins, who left for BancorpSouth.