In a bid to avoid the regulatory capture that's crippled other agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hiring outside the usual places and thinking outside the box.

The pressure to merge is strong. But plenty of small banks are still viable, and rushing to do a deal could be just as risky as waiting.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has terminated a consent order with Northwest Savings Bank that had required the Warren, Pa., bank to strengthen various parts of its consumer compliance management system.

Regulators became cautious about approving bank deals after the financial crisis, but now some buyers are getting approval to close their transactions more quickly.

PacWest Bancorp (PACW) in Los Angeles is experiencing life on the other side of the bargaining table after its bank agreed to sell 10 branches to Opus Bank.

Authorities are searching for Aubrey Lee Price, a former director of Montgomery Bank & Trust, on charges that he bilked investors out of $40 million since 2008.

The National Credit Union Administration announced Saturday morning the completion of its liquidation of WesCorp FCU, marking the end of the most costly failure in credit union history.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey on Friday. Ameris Bank in Moultrie, Ga., agreed to assume all of the bank's $164.4 million in deposits.

Refinancing activity continued to climb over the last three months, as did the gap between consumer and secondary market prices. Expect banks to report another quarter of strong mortgage revenues in the coming weeks.

The acting chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it is "difficult at this time to anticipate the consequences" of the possible expiration of the Transaction Account Guarantee program at the end of the year because of the uncertain economic climate.

Georgia regulators have ordered an Atlanta-area business to stop calling itself a credit union.

RBC Capital Markets recently added two bankers to its financial institutions practice.

American Banker's Robert Barba on how Kansas has become fertile territory for bank deals and why more are in the works.

Henry Michaels and Jerry Wiant of RBC Capital Markets give their outlook for deals and pricing, discuss why taking stock can still be a good thing for sellers and advise bank buyers to manage investor expectations.

Preferred Bank (PFBC) in Los Angeles is set to post its first loss since the fourth quarter of 2010 following unexpected write-downs on two loans.

Frederick County Bancorp in Frederick, Md., said Friday that its second-quarter earnings rose nearly 140% from the same period last year, to $448,000, due to improved credit quality and sharply lower deposit costs.

Wayne Savings Bancshares (WAYN) in Wooster, Ohio, is exiting the trust business and transferring its $40 million of trust assets to Thomasville Bancshares in Georgia.

Seacoast Commerce Bank (SCCB) said Thursday that it opened a second branch in the San Diego area and relocated its headquarters to that new branch.

Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, Calif., has opened a new back office facility in Tempe, Ariz., that it says will eventually house nearly 500 employees.

Montgomery County, Maryland, has picked five community banks to receive $10 million in county deposits. But the banks must make twice that amount in commercial loans to local businesses.