The flagging bank M&A market needs a revival. This week bank executives and investors are sharing strategies to bring back the deals.

WASHINGTON – Members of the credit union-start-up REALTORS FCU, billed as the nation's first virtual credit union, voted over the weekend during the annual convention of its sponsor, the National Association of REALTORS, to merge the $75 million credit union into nearby giant Northwest FCU.

More than 100 former HSBC Bank branches across upstate New York and Connecticut are now operating as branches of First Niagara Bank.

WAUSAU, Wis. — NCUA this evening liquidated Wausau Postal Employees CU and assigned the remnants of the one-time $10 million credit union to nearby giant CoVantage CU.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Alabama Trust Bank in Sylacauga on Friday, making it Alabama’s first bank failure in more than a year.

Bank stocks are up 13% this year, despite the recent swoon tied to JPMorgan Chase's trading snafu. That appreciation is pushing dividend yields down, leading some to wonder if banks will eventually raise quarterly payouts or hold onto the capital.

National Bank Holdings in Boston is shifting its headquarters to Denver following a string of bank acquisitions in Colorado and nearby states.

Put aside the bellyaching about the disappointing deals market. Focus instead on creative deals, nontraditional acquisitions and the nuances of what can be done within current regulations and economic realities, experts will advise at American Banker's M&A conference Monday and Tuesday.

A $2.3 billion loan temporarily pushed Emigrant's total assets over $15 billion. Because it was briefly above that threshold, the bank will be subject to a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that prevents banks from counting trust preferred securities as part of their Tier 1 capital. Emigrant is asking Congress for an exemption.

Now that a proposal to give credit unions more business lending power has been tabled, banks and credit unions have resumed their long-running battle over taxes.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.

NCUA said this morning it has barred the former CEOs of U.S. Central FCU and Members United Corporate FCU from working for or with any corporate credit union for their roles in two of the biggest credit union failures.

BankTennessee in Collierville has been released from a two-year-old enforcement order after it improved its capital ratios and sharply reduced its concentration of commercial real estate and construction loans.

More than two-dozen have already announced that would stop filing reports with the regulator and many more could follow as they aim to cut costs.

The new director, James McDonough, once served as the CEO for Abington Bancorp, a Boston-area company that was sold in 2004.

Avoid the bluster and the defensiveness, and focus on communication and steps to improve the bank, veterans of activist investor fights like John Palmer of PL Capital advise.

Porter Bancorp's shareholders have granted the struggling company more flexibility to raise capital to meet the demands of regulators.

Capitol City Bank, a minority-owned bank in Atlanta that is under orders from its regulators to add fresh capital, is getting a shot in the arm from SunTrust Banks (STI).

United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga., received a subpoena and a notice of formal investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its deferred tax asset valuation allowances and goodwill impairment charges taken in 2009 and 2010.

Prosperity Banchares’ deal to buy East Texas Financial Services is on hold after another bank holding company that owns a stake in the $212 million-asset East Texas filed a lawsuit to block the sale.