A unit of United Community Financial (UCFC) in Youngstown, Ohio, has been freed from an enforcement action with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions.

A Chicago private-equity firm has acquired a mortgage company from a struggling Milwaukee bank.

Banks have nearly picked the last of the low-hanging earnings fruit.

A family trust set up by CVB Financial (CVBF) co-founder George Borba is considering selling up to 2 million shares for tax and estate planning purposes.

Forcht Bank in Lexington, Ky., is set to open its first in-store branch. The $950 million-asset bank has an agreement to open a branch inside a Kroger grocery store in Louisville, Ky., the Business First Journal reported in its online edition Tuesday.

Bank of Virginia (BOVA) in Midlothian, Va., will invest in Stonegate Mortgage’s residential mortgage-loan participation program.

The nation's biggest asset manager now owns roughly 6% of the outstanding stock in UMB, the companies disclosed in Tuesday filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Fed said Tuesday that it terminated a written agreement with Progressive on Feb. 1. The agreement barred Progressive or its $136 million-asset ProGrowth Bank in Nicollet, Minn., from paying dividends or taking on new debt without approval.

Favorable views of market conditions gained momentum at the end of the year as lawmakers reached a compromise to stave off the fiscal cliff.

Smaller banks are beginning to see more revenue from service charges as they experiment with new fees and products.

With the price of farmland surging, demand from small farmers for guaranteed mortgages is also way up. Now banks want Congress to raise the cap on those loans.

First Horizon National in Memphis, Tenn., has expanded its dealings in municipal bonds.

Community bankers should continue to bolster lending despite challenges created by compliance with a host of new Dodd-Frank regulations, Federal Reserve Gov. Elizabeth Duke said Tuesday.

Improving the branch experience could fail to increase foot traffic, but will boost customer satisfaction, loyalty and, ideally, advocacy.

The Treasury Department is planning to wind down its Troubled Asset Relief Program investments in six financial institutions by auctioning off approximately $358 million in preferred stock and subordinated debt investments.

Woodforest National Bank in Woodlands, Texas, has promoted Julie Mayrant to president of its retail operations, according to a news report.

Naugatuck Valley Financial in Connecticut has added Orville Aarons as a director. Aarons is president of O. Aarons & Co., an investment bank, and had been a chief lending officer at The Community's Bank.

Kind words by Stewart McClure, the head of Somerset Hills Bancorp, for Kevin Cummings, the CEO of rival Investors Bancorp, are part of a mutual admiration society budding in New Jersey banking.

Orrstown Financial Services (ORRF) reached a legal settlement with PL Capital over a requirement that the outside investor said wrongly benefited management.

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