Tracy Grooms, formerly of Bank of America, did not stay retired long. Queens University has hired her to teach undergraduates about banking at its business school, which is named after the most famous B of A exec of all.

James Watson, the bank's president, will become CEO on Oct. 1, the $1.1 billion-asset company said Thursday.

Sevier County Bank in Tennessee decided its loyal customers are its best promotion and created an interactive blog about their experiences with the bank, including the story of one woman who goes 20 miles out of her way to keep banking there.

MidSouth Bancorp in Lafayette, La., plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. It will keep its current ticker symbol, MSL.

Chemung Financial (CHMG) in Elmira, N.Y., has lured John Battersby out of retirement to serve as interim chief financial officer.

Westby Co-Op Credit Union in Wisconsin has agreed to buy the deposits and loans of a Walmart branch from Citizens Community Bancorp (CZWI) in Eau Claire, Wis.

Signature Bank (SBNY) in New York has drawn a team of four bankers away from Amalgamated Capital to form a new asset-based lending group.

Sandberg's book has highlighted the need for both men and women to sponsor high potential women and encourage them to take a seat at the table.

East West Bancorp (EWBC) in Pasadena, Calif., has agreed to pay $273 million in stock and cash for MetroCorp Bancshares (MCBI) in Houston.

NewStar Financial, the Boston business lender backed by private-equity firms Corsair Capital and Capital Z Partners Management, is exploring a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Central Bank's surprise decision to continue buying mortgage bonds may not spark another refinancing boom, but it could spur more home purchases.

TD Bank is content with its branch network along the East Coast and, for now, is not interested in deals that would take it into new markets, according to its chief financial officer.

The Treasury Department will receive $91 million from its latest auction. The agency announced plans last week to auction nearly $118 million of securities from several small banks.

Bank CEOs John W. Allison, Ed Wehmer and David Zalman blended good-natured banter with insights on breaking the $10 billion-asset barrier, the danger of bank buyers paying too much and changing attitudes about M&A at an industry conference this week.

The year's Most Powerful Women in Banking special report contains good news and bad. On the positive side, women are making progress in the upper reaches of banking and finance. The trouble is that they still have a long way to go before achieving gender equality. The reasons are complex.

Community banks should do some serious soul searching about their mortgage operations as they approach the CFPB's January implementation deadline.

A former senior commercial loan officer at the failed Bank of the Commonwealth in Norfolk, Va., has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for hiding bad loans from regulators.

Kinderhook Bank in New York has promoted its chief financial officer to become its new chief executive.

The Federal Reserve Board has ordered Missouri Bank in Warrenton to pay a civil money penalty for violating the National Flood Insurance Act.

I hope we can all encourage our younger coworkers, our daughters and granddaughters, to see these opportunities and be ready to ascend to upper level management positions.