Heightened scrutiny of commercial real estate lending is paving the way for lightly regulated investors to gain a bigger toehold in lucrative deals.

The $4.9 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing Friday that its president and CEO, Ashton Ryan Jr., had relinquished the chairmanship to Shivan Govindan, its vice chairman since 2013.

The Bancorp is keeping its cards close to its vest when it comes to job cuts it made last week. The move is leaving analysts guessing as to exactly how many people — and what types of positions — were cut.

Bankers may have a reputation for being old-school, but their rapidly growing digital-ad budgets are in step with the rest of the business world. Banks can both gather valuable demographic data from who clicks on their ads and better measure returns on their investments.

The $2 billion-asset holding company disclosed in a regulatory filing that its Xenith Bank reached an agreement Friday with Gateway Bank Mortgage in Wilmington, N.C., to sell certain assets to Cornerstone Home Lending, a multistate lender based in Houston.

Banks can be more effective in connecting with customers by offering them personalized communications, rather than bombarding them with general sales pitches.

Patriot National Bancorp in Stamford, Conn., disclosed in a regulatory filing that it will increase its loan-loss reserve for the quarter by nearly $2 million to reflect "information and further analysis regarding the full collectability" of a loan issue.

A former NFL quarterback is set to become next chairman of MidSouth Bancorp in Lafayette, La.

The revelations at Wells Fargo are reminder to directors that when a bank's performance is too good to be true, it likely is.

The $4 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that the notes will bear an initial fixed interest rate at 5.1%. The debt will mature in 2026.

Carolina Premier Bank in Charlotte, N.C., has hired Don Jackson from Community One Bank in Asheboro, N.C., as director of Small Business Administration lending, a new position at the bank.

Banks that are heavily involved in commercial real estate lending may shy away from buying institutions with similar concentrations.

A relatively soft summer for the banking industry softened even more in August, sending American Banker's Index of Banking Activity (IBA) to its lowest level since January.

The IBA Composite Index dipped to 53.2 in August from a 55.4 reading in July. The August reading is the second-lowest since the IBA was launched in 2012, topping only the 52.7 level posted in January of this year.

Nearly every one of the IBA's components linked to the lending business gave up ground in the month. Components that track loan applications and approvals moved lower both on the consumer and commercial sides of the business and barely held above the 50-point mark. (The IBA is a diffusion index and scores above 50 indicate expansion.)

Also noteworthy in the August data was a sharp decline in respondents' local business conditions. The score for that component, which has not flashed a contraction in the history of the index, fell to 51.0 from 56.5 in the month.

The IBA has now posted three consecutive relatively tepid scores. September's survey could resolve whether those reflect a seasonal swoon or the start of a more challenging period for the industry.

Click here for full report.

Unity Bancorp in Clinton, N.J., has registered to sell up to $50 million in securities over time.

The $5 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that due to market demand it increased the principal amount of the fixed-to-floating subordinated notes from $75 million to $100 million.

Nicolet Bankshares in Green Bay, Wis., plans to close six branches later this year following its acquisition of Baylake in Sturgeon Bay.

F.N.B. Corp. in Pittsburgh has selected more executives from Yadkin Financial in Raleigh, N.C., to take on leadership roles for its new markets in the Carolinas.

The scorcher at Wells is giving some community bankers an opening to differentiate themselves from larger institutions that seem fee-dependent or "too big to manage."

Washington Federal in Seattle has named Erin Lantz, a general manager of mortgages at Zillow Group, to its board. Lantz, 37, worked at Bank of America from April 2003 to 2010, eventually serving as senior vice president of program management.

Pilot Bank in Tampa, Fla., has recruited Rita Lowman, the chief operating officer of C1 Bank in St. Petersburg, Fla., to be its COO.