Weakness in the energy sector and a surge in new construction are pushing up vacancy rates at offices and hotels, leading to a spike in delinquencies on loans tied to them. The safer bet, bankers say, is lending on industrial properties.

Guaranty Bancorp in Denver has recruited one of its former executives to come back, this time as a director.

The lending arm of U.S. Department of Agriculture guaranteed 3,439 single-family construction loans in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, which ended Dec. 31, but just nine of those loans involved its new single-close construction to permanent financing option.

The $407 million-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it paid about $4.2 million to redeem roughly 4,400 shares of preferred stock from the Treasury Department, representing a $152,000 discount.

One of the designers who worked on Kasisto's chatbot Kai argues that technologists are perpetuating female stereotypes; SoFi has some unusual ideas about how to get to know its customers better; and Fidelity gives in to the ETF trend. Also, Cathy Engelbert, Barbara Boxer and Megyn Kelly.

Community Bank System in DeWitt, N.Y., has overhauled several board committees to prepare for crossing $10 billion in assets.

Washington Federal Chairman and Chief Executive Roy M. Whitehead will hand off his CEO duties to Brent Beardall this spring.

2016 was very good to these financial services executives, who succeeded where others failed, sold their businesses for large sums, felt the love of regulators or could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Carolina Alliance Bank in Spartanburg, S.C., is planning to form a holding company.

The $605 million-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that Stephen Marsh, its CEO since 2008, retired on Dec. 31.

First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has converted its banking unit from a national charter to a state charter.

Mark Wierman, the chief lending officer at Ixonia Bank in Wisconsin, now has a second title: president.

Almost 40 years ago, a rock music legend asked a question that too many banks are failing to address today.

Lakeland Bancorp in Oak Ridge, N.J., has named a new chief financial officer and chief operating officer as two other executives plan to retire.

F&M Bank Corp. in Timberville, Va., has acquired Valley Southern Title in Harrisonburg, Va.

Directors today are expected to perform many duties that, even a decade ago, weren't part of the job, from overseeing cybersecurity and the bank's culture to setting online and mobile strategy. Yet the composition of many bank boards hasn't changed all that much. Here's what to do if you have longtime members who lack the skills needed to help a bank compete.

First Midwest Bancorp will move its headquarters to Chicago from Itasca, Ill., next year. The $11.6 billion-asset company will open an 80,000-square-foot office in the spring of 2018.

Shivan Govindan, chairman of First NBC Bank in New Orleans, has taken on the task of salvaging a bank that is reeling from accounting issues and a substantial capital requirement from regulators.

OptimumBank in Plantation, Fla., has been hit with an enforcement action due to concerns about its asset quality, capital position, compliance with anti-money-laundering regulations and other issues.

From the industry repercussions of Trump's election victory to the rise of the robots in financial services, these are American Banker's most popular stories of 2016.