The Basel III capital proposals would severely restrict already weak lending at community banks and has to be changed, panelists said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. But international politics and legal requirements will make them hard to change, they acknowledged.

Mary Miller, the U.S. Treasury under secretary for domestic finance, praised the Dodd-Frank Act in a speech at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium Friday.

Regulators should re-examine how they classify deposits, or more banks could be classified as troubled. That was the view of a panel on the Transaction Account Guarantee program at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

Tri-Valley Bank in San Ramon, Calif., has completed a private placement that it said will shore up regulatory capital and support growth.

Prosecutors overreached in suing Luther Burbank Savings, which has agreed to settle charges its single-family mortgages were discriminatory, the bank's lawyer said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. He's wrong, a Justice official replied.

Oriental Financial Group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is looking to raise $36 million of common equity.

Heritage Financial (HFWA) is buying Northwest Commercial Bank of Lakewood, Wash.

Slavie Federal Savings Bank in Bel Air, Md., is taking steps to shore up its regulatory capital.

Mortgage lenders get clarity from Fannie and Freddie; Capital One CEO fears competition from mobile players; former IndyMac CEO fights the SEC.

FirstMerit will have to spend major investor equity to buy struggling Citizens Republic, but its shares are strong enough to afford the deal and the fit would be that good, FirstMerit CEO Paul Greig says.

Panelists at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium, including Eagle Bancorp CEO Ronald Paul, fear that small banks could lose deposits to bigger competitors if the program ends.

Level One Bancorp in Farmington Hills, Mich., has found its next growth opportunity with a deal to buy a struggling 128-year-old bank.

Banks will not regain the public's trust with good marketing, PNC chief executive officer James Rohr tells American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

Cadence Bancorp has entered San Antonio after hiring a group of lenders from International Bancshares.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not include a 20% down payment requirement for low-risk loans in its pending mortgage proposal, nor does it seek to covertly rewrite Dodd-Frank, Director Richard Cordray told Senate Banking.

The agency said Wednesday that it recouped roughly $149 million from selling preferred stock in Alpine Banks of Colorado in Glenwood Springs; Yadkin Valley Financial (YAVY) in Elkin, N.C.; First Community Financial Partners (FCMP) in Joliet, Ill.; F&M Financial in Clarksville, Tenn.; and F & M Financial in Salisbury, N.C.

Plans by National Bank Holdings and Capital Bank Financial to go public will create common stock that can supplement cash for open-bank acquisitions.

The Federal Reserve Board has entered into separate written agreements with Doral Financial (DRL) and State Bank of Geneva.

Small LowellBank is turning to Jack Henry for teller automation and online bill pay as well as core automation.

Continued monetary easing by the Fed would further squeeze margins, encourage undue risk-taking, and spark prepayments in bond portfolios without juicing loan demand, community bankers warn.