Higher mortgage rates and other macroeconomic challenges may dampen lending under the Federal Housing Administration's single-family program, but they will produce a net benefit to the insurance fund. Here's why.

Two of central Maryland's oldest community banks have agreed to merge and reorganize under a new name.

The New York firm on Thursday sold 3 million voting shares in the $9.4 billion-asset United Community to Morgan Stanley, which acted as the sole underwriter on the offering.

First Resource Bank in Exton, Pa., has redeemed most of its Small Business Lending Fund preferred shares.

HMN Financial in Rochester, Minn., has agreed to buy a branch from Deerwood Bank in Deerwood, Minn.

County Bancorp in Manitowoc, Wis., has agreed to buy Fox River Valley Bancorp in Appleton, Wis., for about $29 million.

The agency's board, however, delayed action on a contentious proposal to increase a key population threshold for determining fields of membership in metropolitan markets. Bankers remain on alert, however, because the agency has indicated an interest in revisiting the issue.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday will release results of the banking industry's performance for the third quarter.

First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Miss., has agreed to buy Mortgage Connection in Jackson, Miss.

California regulators have approved a request from private-equity firm Carpenter & Co. to raise capital for a new state-chartered bank.

Avidbank Holdings in Palo Alto, Calif., has raised $12 million through a private placement of debt.

Overall U.S. auto debt surged to $1.05 trillion in the third quarter, and the rise in subprime auto loan originations has heightened the New York Fed's concerns about that market.

County Bancorp in Manitowoc, Wis., has selected former Kimberly-Clark executive Kathi Seifert to be a director.

The industry deserves credit for rebuilding the Deposit Insurance Fund after the crisis, but victory is far from achieved in preparing agency reserves for the next crisis.

More banks are looking to buy commercial loans for reasons ranging from a dearth of organic opportunities to a need to diversify their asset mix. That surge in demand is creating an imbalance that benefits banks that have been able to make more loans.

Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has begun offering a MasterCard debit card for use by U.S. citizens while traveling in Cuba.

Presuming that medium-sized banks that offer hedging products face added interest-rate-risk fears misses the full story.

TotalBank in Miami has terminated 58 employees in operating and commercial job functions, after it upgraded its technology.

Republican presidential contenders are off base when they claim the Dodd-Frank Act spurred the decline in community banks, which in fact predated the law.

LegacyTexas Financial Group in Plano will issue $75 million in subordinated debt for potential acquisitions and other uses.