Preparing for the inevitable future credit crisis by setting aside more loss reserves is a step toward avoiding government bailouts.

Though bank analysts like Matthew Schultheis generally expect M&A activity to continue at a brisk pace for several years to come, stock market volatility could prove to be an issue for potential dealmakers in the near term.

County Bank, the holding company for the $324 million-asset Lapeer County Bank & Trust, said in a press release that it will pay $20 million, or $27 a share, in stock for the parent of the $245 million-asset CSB Bank.

Community banks can't win on size, but their values give them an upper hand in competing against cookie-cutter megabank branches.

Though bank analysts like Matthew Schultheis generally expect M&A activity to continue at a brisk pace for several years to come, stock market volatility could prove to be an issue for potential dealmakers in the near term. With a lower stock price, buyers may end up not being able to pay as much as sellers now expect, says Schultheis, who covers the financial services sector for Boenning & Scattergood. Here’s his outlook on bank M&A, including the number of deals he anticipates will happen this year and whether big banks might be among the buyers.

Kopernik Bank and Liberty Bank of Maryland, both mutual thrifts in Baltimore, have agreed to merge. No money would change hands given the mutual-ownership structures involved in the deal.

A day after Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray told financial industry executives that Congress did not intend to exempt small institutions from most rules, several lawmakers begged to differ.

The private-banking prowess of newly acquired City National was the steadying influence Royal Bank of Canada needed amid global and domestic economic shocks in its latest quarter.

Carolina Alliance Bank in Spartanburg, S.C., has exited the Small Business Lending Fund program.

Sandhills State Bank in Bassett, Neb., has agreed to buy Bank of Keystone in Keystone, Neb.

The top leaders of the National Credit Union Administration said this week that they support an alternative option that would allow credit unions to merge some operations — a prospect that is alarming banking industry representatives.

More borrowers with spotty credit are failing to make monthly car payments on time, a troubling sign for investors who have snapped up billions of dollars of securities backed by risky auto debt.

WSFS Financial has been around nearly two centuries, and CEO Mark Turner is going for another two. Has he found the road map for success?

Instead of focusing on the effect of swipe fee rules on banks and credit unions, retailers should ask why the Durbin amendment hasn’t produced the promised cost savings for their consumers.

Midland States Bancorp in Effingham, Ill., has agreed to buy about $400 million in wealth management assets from Sterling Bancorp in Yonkers, N.Y.

Mechanics Bank in Walnut Creek, Calif., has entered the residential mortgage market and hired a banker to lead the new loan group.

JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon added to his defenses of megabanks, arguing that regional and community banks rely on them. The comments could inflame tensions among banks instead of easing them.

On the one hand, the FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile showed how normal banking is again. But there were also worrying signs, including an increase in chargeoffs, higher loan-loss provisions and fears of the impact from the energy sector.

Univest in Souderton, Pa., has hired Megan Duryea Santana as general counsel for the company and its banking subsidiary, Univest Bank and Trust.

Hampton Roads Bankshares agreed to take Xenith Bankshares' name and move to the seller's Richmond, Va., headquarters as part of a recent deal. The move gives the surviving company heft in a growing market that is attractive to other potential acquirers.