Profiling is good. Understanding customer needs is good. Proactively recommending products and services is good. But the timing you apply to those things matters.

A former loan officer at Colorado East Bank & Trust in Lamar, Colo., has admitted to his role in a $1.2 million fraud scheme.

Los Angeles banker Maria Contreras-Sweet has been confirmed as the new head of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

FirstBank in Lexington, Tenn., is expanding its operations in Alabama by opening a Huntsville branch.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has pumped $117 million into its U.S. bank to fund the purchase of online banking startup Simple.

Volunteering at nonprofits is a good place to start, high-ranking female bank executives told attendees at a recent conference. Women also need to confront barriers head on.

Great Southern Bancorp (GSBC) in Springfield, Mo., reeled in more deposits and loans from a recent branch deal compared to what it had originally forecast.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) has consolidated its Indiana operations after two division chiefs in the state announced their retirements.

The Honolulu bank is collecting donations to support the Polynesian Voyaging Society's 46,000-mile, worldwide sea odyssey, which aims to raise awareness of Hawaiian heritage.

Yadkin Financial revealed in a regulatory filing that merger talk is running rampant across the state. Yadkin agreed to merge with VantageSouth in January to create North Carolina's biggest community bank.

The "dream team" of bankers who set up Greenville, S.C.-based CertusBank attracted half a billion dollars from hedge funds to buy failed banks. Lately, the focus has shifted to big losses, lavish spending and payments to a consulting firm owned by top executives.

The $1.6 billion-asset KleinBank said it expects to buy the $207 million-asset Prior Lake by the end of this year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Platte Valley Financial Services in Scottsbluff, Neb., is buying a bank it played a role in forming.

First Federal Bank of Wisconsin in Waukesha and Bay View Federal Savings and Loan Association are merging.

Middleburg Bank in Virginia has agreed to sell its 62% stake in the mortgage banking firm Southern Trust Mortgage to two Virginia banks and Southern Trust's president.

Four Oaks Fincorp (FOFN) in Four Oaks, N.C., could raise more than $27 million in a securities agreement and rights offering.

For mortgage lenders, "subprime" can sound like a dirty word, especially after the financial crisis. But now some mortgage companies, in search of new business, are starting to loosen their credit standards again. As some banks and nonbank lenders, including Wells Fargo and Carrington Mortgage, offer mortgages to less creditworthy borrowers, are the subprime mortgage floodgates about to open wide?

United Community Banks (UCBI) in Blairsville, Ga., said it expects to report earnings of $14 million to $15 million for the first quarter.

PacWest Bancorp's pending purchase of CapitalSource has been pushed back as the deal awaits approval from the Federal Reserve Board.

Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) in Moultrie, Ga., has repurchased all the shares it issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.