Is it inevitable? Will community banks as we know them cease to exist over the next 10 years, with large, regional and multi-state banks along with credit unions left to fill the gap?

Senate Democrats Tuesday failed in an attempt to scale back a bill meant to ease the path for small banks to raise new capital.

Daryl Byrd is reluctant to discuss specific markets, though he says in an interview Tuesday that his company is open to deals in several states as it looks to grow more outside its home turf in Louisiana.

Fulton Financial Corp. has promoted an insider to replace R. Scott Smith Jr., who announced plans to retire from the Lancaster, Pa., company at the end of this year.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a written agreement with Mid America Bank and Trust Co. in Dixon, Mo.

A group including $78 billion-asset M&T and $9 billion-asset Sterling Financial ratcheted up their servicing portfolios by a fifth or more in 2011. Nonbanks are scooping up problem loan servicing, but banks still have a distinct funding advantage.

Bank of Montreal expects to save $300 million a year from the acquisition of Marshall & Ilsley, $50 million more than initially forecast, CEO William Downe says.

A Virginia investor who has co-founded and sold three community banks in the past decade may buy up to a 45% share in First Capital Bancorp Inc. in Glen Allen, Va.

Bridge Capital Holdings Inc. in San Jose is opening a third loan office on the East Coast to lend to emerging technology companies.

Continuing in its quest to reinvent itself as a specialty-finance lender, TCF Financial Corp. of Wayzata, Minn., has launched a new division that will specialize in asset-based and cash-flow lending to smaller middle-market companies across the U.S.

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Private equity investors are requiring rigorous stress testing of banks' loan portfolios before they even consider making an investment.

Making good on its promise to continue to grow through acquisitions, Iberiabank Corp. in Lafayette, La., announced Monday that it is buying the $350 million-asset Florida Gulf Bancorp Inc. in Fort Myers for up to $48.1 million in stock and cash.

SunTrust Banks Inc. will make several changes in its executive lineup, including top officers in retail banking.

Pacific Crest FCU announced on Monday that it is acquiring two northern California branches from ailing PremierWest Bancorp.

To date, the public dialogue about the Transaction Account Guarantee program has been divided between the political and reputational risks of continuing this extraordinary federal insurance and the potential liquidity crisis that could ensue if the program ends prematurely and abruptly.

New guidelines say directors and officers could face investigation from the agency if they copy or remove bank records before a seizure.

Less than 250 credit unions have the size, capital, and charter needed to successfully buy a community bank.

Union Bank's deal to buy Pacific Capital is making the U.S. Treasury's decision to a quick write-down on its investment in the target on look like a shrewd choice.

United Security Bancshares Inc. in Thomasville, Ala., reported a fourth-quarter loss of $9.5 million, compared with a loss of $6.5 million a year earlier, as it recorded a $4.1 million goodwill impairment charge to reflect continued weakness in its real estate portfolio.