First Financial Corp.'s willingness to pay nearly double the tangible book value for Freestar Bank outside of Chicago is the most expensive small bank deal in months.

Banks must properly define and reward risk management in the future, rather than keep it segmented as they often do today. So advised a roundtable of experts asked by American Banker to gaze into the future as part of the celebration of our 175th anniversary.

Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust Co. in Coral Gables, Fla., has added to its wealth management division by hiring two employees with ties to Lydian Private Bank, which was closed by regulators in August.

The agencies responsible for implementing the restriction on proprietary trading have asked the public to respond to hundreds of questions over the next three months that will help shape the final version.

First Citizens BancShares Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., has retired its IronStone Bank brand and converted IronStone's 58 branches into branches of its First Citizens Bank.

FNB United Corp. is another step closer to completing its proposed acquisition of Bank of Granite Corp. after receiving approval for the deal from the Federal Reserve of Richmond.

Members of Har-CO FCU voted to approve the conversion of the $200 million credit union to a mutual savings bank, the first credit union conversion in more than two years.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday proposed regulations outlining how banks should restructure their operations to comply with a new ban on risky speculative bets.

First Financial Corp. in Terre Haute, Ind., is bulking up in Illinois with a deal to acquire Freestar Bank in Pontiac for $47 million.

Big bank critic Arianna Huffington had some unusually kind words for bankers at The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking gala, but she said in an interview that there's still an "enormous amount that needs to be fixed" in the industry.

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Arianna Huffington: "I owe an enormous amount to bankers."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Beth Mooney: "We didn't lead with our differences."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Beth Mooney: "We didn't lead with our differences."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Heidi Miller: "I was a beneficiary of affirmative action."

2011 Women in Banking Keynote Heidi Miller: "I was a beneficiary of affirmative action."

2011 Women in Banking: Young Women's Leadership Scholarship Winners

Two failures late Friday - one in Minnesota and one in Missouri = cost the Deposit Insurance Fund nearly $190 million.

Chaotic stock markets are complicating bank deals like Brookline's planned purchase of Bancorp Rhode Island. Brookline extended for the second time the deadline for the seller's shareholders to decide how they will be paid.