On a recent flight, the gentleman next to me shared a banking story that made my day.

Preliminary data shows that growth in commercial and industrial lending decelerated for the first time in a year and a half. Banks that have reported continued momentum said that gains have come from signing up new customers and taking market share, but that overall credit demand remains tepid.

Banks announced 21 deals in March, capping the best quarter for M&A in nearly two years. Investment bankers say the momentum should continue to build throughout the year, adding that 2013 should be a particularly busy year of consolidation.

Bank of America (BAC) has hired more than 90 small-business lenders in the Southeast as part of a broader push to add 1,000 relationship bankers throughout the country by the middle of the year.

Banks and credit unions are competing more than ever to try and win new business. Some are resurrecting giveaways and promotions to drum up clientele. Here are some notable promotions from recent years.

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Hudson Valley Holding Corp. (HVB) has completed the sale of $474 million in loans after it was required to reduce its concentrations in commercial real estate and classified loans.

Independent Bank Corp. (INDB) in Rockland, Mass,, has named Donna L. Abelli chairman of the company and its commercial banking unit, Rockland Trust Co.

Regulators have entered into a consent order with the banking subsidiary of Community Bank of South Florida that requires the Homestead, Fla., bank to raise capital ratios.

Two years after the federal government became a direct lender to students, the time might be right for small banks to start making private student loans. Still, there are plenty of potential legislative and regulatory headwinds.

First Savings Bank Northwest in Renton, Wash., has been released from a formal enforcement order with its regulators after substantially reducing its problem loans and demonstrating that it can earn money on a consistent basis.

Naugatuck Valley Financial (NVSL) will record a deposit-related charge during the first quarter due to not paying enough interest on some certificates of deposit renewals.

The Nasdaq stock exchange has warned Enterprise Financial Services Corp. (ESFC) in St. Louis that its stock is in danger of being delisted because the company has yet to file its 2011 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

How Philip Seymour Hoffman got tied to ads for People's United Bank.

A dormant financing tool popular with small holding companies to infuse subsidiaries with cash is back and stricter than ever.

Sitting atop a small sliver of the Marcellus Shale, the plainly named Community Bank in southwest Pennsylvania has become a key liaison between local residents and drillers of the world's second-largest gas field.