Many small banks have never accepted that an exemption from the Durbin amendment will protect them from the measure's roughly 50% cut in debit interchange rates. Earnings at banks with assets of less than $10 billion appear to have been entirely untouched by the cap in the first quarter since its Oct. 1 implementation, however.

The National Credit Union Association said Monday that a federal credit union may set the maturity date for modified or refinanced mortgages beyond the regulatory 40-year maturity limit, as long as the terms of the original loan were no more than 40 years.

New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares Inc. in Newport said Monday that its chief executive, Stephen W. Ensign, is stepping down and that its president and chief operating officer will take over this role.

Highlands Bankshares Inc. in Petersburg, W. Va., is on the lookout for a new chief executive after announcing that C.E. Porter will retire in May.

Centennial Bank in Denver is adding a new branch in Boulder as part of a broad strategy to establish a presence in some of the state's key banking markets.

Bernard M. Trager, the founder of Republic Bank in Louisville and chairman of its holding company, died Friday after a long illness. He was 83.

For the moment, the job of ensuring that the nation's largest banks comply with the terms of last week's mammoth mortgage settlement falls on just one man: Joseph A. Smith, Jr., North Carolina's banking commissioner.

With problem real estate loans continuing to pile up, Western Liberty Bancorp in Las Vegas announced Monday that it lost $2.4 million in the fourth quarter and $14.2 million for the full year.

Colony Bankcorp Inc. in Fitzgerald, Ga., will suspend paying a dividend on preferred stock that the Treasury Department holds and interest payments on some junior debt.

Susquehanna Bank is using Facebook and Twitter to generate name awareness for the bank and produce donations to local food banks.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed two Midwestern banks Friday, bringing the failure tally so far this year to nine. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as the receiver of the failed national banks, was able to find other institutions to resolve the failures.

About half of the deals in January were in the Midwest, and there have been a few more since — but some key ingredients for "the wave" are missing.

First Financial Service Corp. in Elizabethtown, Ky., said it had a new chairman and that its chief executive will step down for health reasons.

After 100 years of having a federal charter, Frost says new reform law has increased the value of state regulation.

Hana Financial Group of Seoul, South Korea, has agreed to buy newly issued shares of common stock, and a 51% ownership interest, in Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles.

The Texas Bankers Association is irked about the National Credit Union Administration's decision to infuse $60 million into the otherwise insolvent Texans Credit Union.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. in Madison reported another quarterly loss.

The private banking arm of KeyCorp in Cleveland has established a Delaware trust company and hired two veterans from competitors to help run it.

Horizon Bancorp in Michigan City, Ind., has agreed to buy Heartland Bancshares Inc. of Franklin, Ind., in an all-stock deal valued at $14 million.

Liberty Bell Bank has been fighting battles with a former chairman for more than five years. Last month, the bank filed to form a bank holding company, just months after the activist investor was rounded up by U.S. marshals for allegedly defrauding elderly people around Philadelphia.