Several banks recaptured deferred tax assets in the fourth quarter, regaining an asset they had to remove from balance sheets as quarterly losses piled up during the financial crisis. Banks that are reclaiming these assets have been able to boost capital levels.

Losses at Florida Community Bank narrowed in the fourth quarter after the Miami bank trimmed overhead by cutting 10% of its workforce.

Core banking provider Jack Henry's electronic payments unit is moving like a juggernaut. Its clients are also seeing little effect of the Durbin amendment, which had the potential to curb debit-card use.

The fact of the matter is that banks can manipulate earnings, and consequently capital, through decisions about loss provisioning.

With two of its largest investors pressuring it to find a buyer, First California Financial Group Inc. in Westlake Village has hired an unnamed investment bank to help it explore its options.

Shares of BOK Financial Corp. Inc. slid Wednesday after the Tulsa, Okla., company reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell well short of analysts' estimates.

With six acquisitions under its belt and a seventh in the works, the Los Angeles company strikes again with a deal for Phoenix business bank.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., ended 2011 with lower profit for the fourth quarter and a loss for the year.

The regulatory nod that allowed prepaid card company Green Dot to buy a bank marked a culmination of founder Steve Streit's rocky, years-long effort to move from the profitable fringes of banking into the mainstream.

Concerned about robberies, Chappell Hill Bank began encouraging patrons to bring legally concealed weapons into its branch. Now the Texas bank's unconventional CEO needs to find ways to bring in loans.

The election season, already off to a fascinating start, will have an added twist for high-ranking members of the House Financial Services Committee.

There have always been regulatory impediments to the pursuit of profit, but bankers are increasingly worried about how to preserve the self-determination they have left.

Banks that are caught flat-footed by the Baby Boomers' next big demographic shift will want to avoid the "nobody saw it coming" argument — because it really won't be all that believable.

The underperformance of big bank stocks last year helped restore their yields to a rough parity with smaller peers, but actual quarterly payouts remained a small fraction of pre-crisis levels.

Safety-and-soundness orders continued to abate late last year in another sign that the banking industry is regaining its balance.

Confusing fees, perplexing choices, interactions that can be painful. Retail banking is full of complexities that keep consumers baffled. But will people pay for a simpler experience?

New York Life's annuity products aren't likely to become any higher yielding or any more exciting as the Baby Boomers start retiring en masse, but it certainly seems they will be in greater demand.

CenterState Bank in Winter Haven, Fla., bought a failed bank Friday. John Corbett, the head of CenterState, hired the target's new CEO months ago. He has used that philosophy several times to expand — and doesn't plan to stop there.

Sterling Bancorp's fourth-quarter profit rose 51% from a year earlier, to 5.3 million, as loan volume and net interest income improved.

Community banks on average seem to be losing less revenue from a lower interchange cap that first forecast. Observers caution that those banks can't get too comfortable since market forces have yet to change the landscape.