AmeriServ Financial in Johnstown, Pa., has begun another stock buyback.

With the ever-increasing regulation burden, community banks with small staffs struggle to keep up with new and changing rules. Some have deployed software to streamline their compliance to-do lists. Bank of the Sierra in Porterville, Calif., is one of them.

The Federal Reserve has ordered Bank of Montreal's U.S. unit to strengthen compliance with laws designed to deter money laundering.

Sierra Vista Bank in Folsom, Calif., has added $1.5 million in capital from the Taylor International Fund.

Flagstar Bancorp (FBC) in Troy, Mich., announced that its chief executive, Michael Tierney, has stepped aside after just eight months in the post.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is seeking to recover $48 million from officers and directors of a Florida bank that collapsed in 2010 following heavy defaults on commercial real estate loans.

Mars National Bank near Pittsburgh has drafted a local boy-turned-major-leaguer, Neil Walker of the Pirates, as its pitchman.

Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., is bumping up the size of its stock sale by more than 20%

Capitol Bancorp is down three banks in the past week, but it could have been four. The company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that regulators attempted to seize a fourth bank on Friday, but a temporary injunction from a state court stopped it.

Regulators let Synovus acquire a failed bank — its first deal in four years — though it still owes Tarp $968 million. A surprising number of similar deals have occurred in recent years.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray sat silently at a public hearing as a room full of the industry's customers and employees argued that Americans should be allowed to make their own borrowing choices.

Analyze data to tailor offers and draft sales pitches that customers, particularly those visiting branches, will have a hard time refusing.

Four community banks announced Troubled Asset Relief Program redemptions Wednesday. Two were in Missouri and one each in South Carolina and Virginia.

nCino, which sells cloud-based bank operating software, scored a new client in Square 1 Bank of Durham, N.C.

Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) in Marietta, Ohio, has bought three insurance agencies in Jackson, Ohio.

Commerce Bancshares in Kansas City, Mo., has struck a deal for Summit Bancshares of Tulsa that would nearly double its asset base in Oklahoma.

Banks are starving for new revenue sources these days. Some are responding to fierce competition in mainstream lending markets by looking further afield, to financing ventures like improving energy efficiency and the building of manufactured housing. Following are examples of banks that are creating daylight between themselves and their rivals by focusing on unique businesses.

The common-sense steps taken in the bill will help even the playing field between community banks and big financial firms.

Consumer advocates believe the bounties banks pay to car dealers for steering customers to high-interest loans are abusive. But with a ban likely to spark a political backlash, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is instead seeking to prove the markups are discriminatory.

Since being forced out of Bank of America in 2011, Sallie Krawcheck has been talking a lot about the business case for gender diversity on boards and in top management. With her investment in 85 Broads, she is putting her money where her mouth is — and hopes other women will, too.