Banking was a tough business to thrive in over the past year. These ten executives stood out for savvy moves that enabled their companies to beat the odds.

Start the New Year right, with new ways to think about widening your bank's customer base, lowering your legal costs, mentoring your executives, maximizing tech investments and more.

In a market where banks have been massively devalued, BankUnited's CEO says executives will have to focus on creating value over the next few years to sell at attractive prices.

LNB Bancorp in Lorain, Ohio, is inching its way toward exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Political squabbles on Capitol Hill and the tight presidential race put key confirmations on the backburner in 2012, but confirmed regulatory leaders will speed up progress on many fronts next year.

Uncharacteristically for a bank, BankPlus decided four years ago to compete with payday lenders. Now it successfully offers a small-dollar loan product, with significantly better terms.

With Buzz Points, customers earn points every time they do a signature transaction with their debit card and can redeem then for gift cards from select local and national merchants.

The landscape has changed radically in the last two decades. In most states, the number of banks has fallen sharply. But some states have emerged as storehouses for the nation's lending giants.

Orrstown Financial has dealt with a wave of bad news over the past two years, but CEO Thomas Quinn believes he's got the Pennsylvania company turned around. He and CFO David Boyle discuss their hard decisions and outlook.

Delanco Federal Savings Bank in New Jersey must fix asset-quality, risk management and other problems under a written agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Third Federal Savings & Loan Association of Cleveland said regulators terminated its memorandum of understanding, which had mandated an outside assessment of its management of interest-rate risk.

United Community Bancorp in Lawrenceburg, Ind., has completed a crucial step in its conversion to a public company from a mutual.

This has been a difficult year to run a foreign-owned bank in the United States, but BBVA Compass aims to parlay a recent core overhaul into new growth opportunities in 2013, CEO Manolo Sanchez says.

Special credits, like accounts receivable financing lines, real estate construction loans or import-export lines, require experienced personnel because, while they may be quite profitable, they are inherently hazardous.

First Bancorp (FBNC) in Troy, N.C. and Community Financial Shares in Glen Ellyn, Ill. have completed capital raises.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has taken enforcement measures against six banks and terminated actions against a half dozen others.

The interim chief financial officer of Capitol Bancorp has quit.

In a one-hour interview at his office in Massachusetts earlier this year, Rep. Barney Frank was surprisingly open, discussing what motivated him to get into politics, his personal life, and the cause of political gridlock in Congress.

The Greenville, S.C., bank will acquire Resource Financial Services, which has eight offices in five states. CertusBank did not disclose the price it will pay for the four-year-old company.

The Maryland companies have moved the deadline for terminating the deal while they await Fed approval. Carrollton also said Friday that its CFO will resign in January.