Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has agreed to buy a pair of nonbanking businesses.

BB&T plans to add more than $20 billion in assets this year through three pending acquisitions. Management, which believes it should have no problem getting its deals approved, has started to improve how it monitors its liquidity capital ratio before new thresholds kick in.

Signature Bank in New York reported higher fourth-quarter profits on growth in commercial loans.

F.N.B. Corp. in Pittsburgh reported higher quarterly earnings due to loan growth and improved asset quality.

Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., posted higher profits in the fourth quarter, propelled by strong loan demand.

Royal Bank of Canada is ready to take another shot at U.S. banking, agreeing to buy City National in Los Angeles.

The $794 million-asset Kentucky Bancshares will pay $7.2 million, or $32.50 a share, in stock for the $121 million-asset Madison.

Five Star Bank is the latest financial institution to settle claims that it avoided lending to minorities. More redlining cases can be expected, industry experts say.

Stephen Platt, a forensic investigations consultant and author of Criminal Capital: How the Finance Industry Facilitates Crime, explains why bank directors' fear of revealing their ignorance is dangerous for financial institutions.

United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga., reported higher quarterly profit because of loan growth and higher fee revenue.

Saco & Biddeford Savings in Saco, Maine, has a new president.

Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Asia Bancshares in New York.

Fulton Financial in Lancaster, Pa., reported lower quarterly earnings that reflected the costs of complying with a regulatory order.

The digital-only offshoot of Customers Bank combines edgier technology — like letting consumers snap photos of their driver's license to open accounts — with a new business model that counts on interchange revenue rather than fees.

The Louisiana company is the latest out-of-stater to move into the Sunshine State after buying a failed bank in the Florida Panhandle. First NBC's chief executive made it clear his company has more expansion in mind.

PL Capital in Naperville, Ill., disclosed in a regulatory filing last week that it wants Joseph Palmer Jr. and John Yerkes Jr. to resign rather than stand for reelection at the $542 million-asset company's Feb. 10 annual meeting.

Bankwell Financial Group in New Canaan, Conn., has hired a new chief strategy officer.

M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., reported a higher quarterly profit as lower expenses offset tighter margins.

Many community banks will soon have to replace outdated technology — expenses that will hit them in an ongoing environment of compressed net interest margins, increasing compliance costs and higher capital requirements.