Clifford Isroff, the lead director of FirstMerit in Akron, Ohio, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 79.

The chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may see more than a sixfold increase in their compensation to $4 million in spite of objections from President Barack Obama's administration and some lawmakers.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin in Madison said it expects to save about $5.4 million yearly after it completed an employee buyout, sold a branch, closed six branches and introduced a new branch staffing model.

Riverview Financial in Harrisburg, Pa., has promoted its president to chief executive after its previous CEO retired, and delayed its planned acquisition of a western Pennsylvania community bank.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., has again extended the deadline to complete its acquisitions of Central Community in Temple, Texas, and Ouachita Bancshares in Monroe, La.

Nearly 85% of the acquisitions announced this year have involved sellers with $500 million or less in assets. Investment bankers expect more of the same in the final six months of this year.

Banks looking to improve their sales should follow a simple rule of thumb: the more friendly, casual chats staffers have with current and potential customers, the more business they create.

After it all but stopped making real estate and development loans following the housing crash, Farmers & Merchants Bank has increased its real estate loans by more than 61% over the last two years. It's a figure that's likely to keep rising as California's real estate market heats up and the $5.6 billion-asset bank continues to add commercial real estate, construction and mortgage lending specialists to keep pace.

BB&T in Winston-Salem, N.C., has provided five top executives with nearly 3 million reasons to successfully integrate Susquehanna Bancshares in Lititz, Pa.

Citizens Financial in Mansfield, Pa., has agreed to buy First National Bank of Fredericksburg in Pennsylvania.

ConnectOne Bancorp in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., has issued $50 million in subordinated debt and intends to exit the Small Business Lending Fund program.

Equitable Financial in Grand Island, Neb., said its depositors and stockholders have approved its plan to convert from a mutual thrift to a fully stock-owned company.

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Tuesday unveiled a much-anticipated tool meant to help institutions assess their own cybersecurity systems.

The agency's Semiannual Risk Perspective pinpointed compliance and operational risk as potential problems for big banks while it outlined a different set of challenges for midsize and community banks.

Nationwide Bank in Columbus, Ohio has created an online car loan service that allows consumers to secure financing and insurance and shop for a car purchase.

The South Dakota company will soon be completely independent from National Australia Bank. The plan for now is to produce consistent results while scouting deals as the bank nears a key regulatory threshold.

California Republic Bancorp in Irvine has securitized and sold $390 million in notes backed by prime automobile loans.

Clearinghouse CDFI in Lake Forest, Calif., has acquired Arizona MultiBank Community Development, a community development financial institution that operates in the Southwestern U.S. and on Native American reservations.

Meta Financial Group in Sioux Falls, S.D., parent of MetaBank and Meta Payment Systems, is raising capital to fuel a future acquisition, and has renewed a significant prepaid card issuing relationship with NetSpend.

Hanmi Financial in Los Angeles has a new look for its retail bank.