As Dodd-Frank regulations come into focus, critics say they're complex to the point of being unworkable. Here's a simple solution.

WASHINGTON — A Tennessee bank owner must get prior Federal Reserve approval to pay dividends or increase debt.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., has completed the sale of $115 million in senior notes and will use the proceeds to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Two Los Angeles community banks largely owned by the same investment group are planning to merge - the latest in a string of deals between California banks.

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Bridge Bancorp Inc. in Bridgehampton, N.Y., said late Monday that it will raise up to $10 million by selling common stock.

Heightened regulation is forcing more bank buyers to overhaul their entire computer platform as regulators zero in on a greater need for compliance.

Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., received court approval to settle longstanding litigation over a condominium project in Columbus, Ohio, that had previously resulted in an almost $19 million verdict.

In the last three months of 2010, banks, credit unions and other lenders made $12 billion of Small Business Administration-backed loans, the most in any quarter in the SBA's history and more than double the volume in any quarter over the last four years.

First Northern Community Bancorp in Dixon, Calif., said Monday that it had exited the Troubled Asset Relief Program after repurchasing a stock warrant from the Treasury Department.

Shares of Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. have been removed from the Nasdaq exchange and are now trading over the counter.

Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles has added a former KPMG consultant to its board.

David Greiner has resigned as president and chief executive of Tri-Valley Bank in San Ramon, Calif., and has been replaced by the bank's chairman, Arnold Grisham.

WASHINGTON — Regulators closed a bank in Louisiana, and another in Iowa, late Friday to bring the year’s failure total to 90.

The Barclays unit in charge of U.S. bank deals has overcome adversity, from the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008 to the defection of some important talent last year, and worked on some of the notable deals of the year.

Addressing the home mortgage meltdown, Congressman Scott Garrett recently introduced legislation that is, as American Banker put it, "designed to draw the private sector back to the secondary-mortgage market after the troubled GSEs are terminated."

Banks, the FDIC, and insurers are set to fight over whether the vague terms of director & officer liability insurance put insurers on the hook for FDIC claims against failed bank execs.

Regulators will eventually release banks from the penalty box of formal enforcement actions. For now, banks can expect informal agreements to serve as a provisional step to freedom.

In a new paper, Karen Shaw Petrou, a leading financial services analyst, outlines flaws with new capital and liquidity requirements, and offers policymakers a way to simplify the process.