Summit Financial in Moorefield, W.Va., plans to raise roughly $12.8 million through a private placement and a subsequent rights offering.

Espirito Santo Bank in Miami has hired the investment banking firm FIG Partners to market it to prospective buyers.

BBVA Compass will likely face restrictions on M&A and branching after issues turned up in its recent CRA exam. Though a CRA rating downgrade is bad, some believe the foreign-owned bank is better off than banks that have had compliance issues arise after submitting a merger application.

Sen. Sherrod Brown may give the country's biggest banks heartburn, but there are signs he's positioning himself as an industry ally ahead of a potential bid to run the Banking Committee.

An improved economy, hint of potentially higher interest rates and changing demographics are all aiding a lending rebound in the southern and western parts of the United States.

American National Bankshares in Danville, Va., has agreed to buy MainStreet BankShares in Martinsville, Va.

Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has agreed to buy Community Bank of Broward in Dania Beach, Fla.

Financial Institutions in Warsaw, N.Y., is overhauling its risk-management structure, while also looking for a new executive to handle such duties.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial in Bedminster, N.J., could look to raise up to $100 million in coming months.

Who says you can't have it all? Banks like Eagle Bancorp and Puget Sound Bank are adding loans at a fast clip, but that hasn't stopped them from looking for deals. Still, such banks must make sure their deals do not wreck the growth engine they already have.

Lower volume and improved processes are being credited for making mortgage lenders more efficient at getting loans through the origination process

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has hired Russell Herakovich to lead the national expansion of its health care banking group.

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Blue Harbour Group, an activist investor fund, has amassed a 5.7% stake in Investors Bancorp in New Jersey.

Chemical Financial in Midland, Mich., and First National Bank of Omaha in Nebraska have partnered to market and issue a new rewards-based MasterCard.

Bryn Mawr Bank in Pennsylvania has agreed to buy Powers Craft Parker & Beard, an insurance broker and risk management consulting firm.

A generation shift could also create issues for community banks that are in search of fee income.

The invention of baby carrots transformed Americans' vegetable-eating habits. Banks need to shake up their products and services in a similarly unique way if they hope to differentiate themselves, according to Bill Early of PlumDog Financial.