Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it has hired 75 small-business bankers in Texas and that it intends to add roughly 25 more in the state by the end of the first quarter.

"Gain on sale" margins have fallen along with volume, helping turn mortgage production into another weak point for the banking industry.

Why buy a whole bank when you can snap up its choicest assets? That appears to be the thinking of a growing number of acquirers these days as they troll for select assets and deposits rather than entire banks.

While other regulators busily check off implementation goals set by last year's financial reform law, the new body charged with limiting threats to the financial system is getting lost in the shuffle.

First of Huron Corp. in Bad Axe, Mich., agreed to serve as a source of strength to its $246.2 million-asset Signature Bank, which has been operating under a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and its state regulator since Jan. 27.

DataMotion Inc., a provider of email encryption services, found in a recent survey conducted by Osterman Research Inc. that nearly 80% of potential community bank customers want to communicate with their banks using secure email, while only about 40% can do so currently.

Home Bancshares Inc. in Conway, Ark., has repaid the Treasury Department the $50 million it received in early 2009 from the Troubled Asset Relief program.

U.S. Bank is letting customers who have lost income due to the state of Minnesota government shutdown skip one monthly payment on most types of loans without penalty.

Union First Market Bank in Richmond, Va., announced Monday that it has opened seven branches inside Martin's Food Markets in central Virginia.

As bankers anxiously await the anticipated 300 new regulations from Dodd-Frank regulators have continued their assault on banking practices. Bankers have recently been concerned about the details and expected requirements regarding automated overdraft-payment programs that were initially issued last November, with follow-up explanations provided in late March.

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Rising regulatory costs are forcing banks of all shapes and sizes to take a hard look at consolidation, including the mostly dormant field of mutually owned banks.

Despite a recent uptick in national home prices, Clear Capital reported that home values are down 3.2% for the first six months of this year, and the real estate data firm is projecting another 2.4% decline through the second half of 2011.

With a 98% retention rate, USAA Federal Savings Bank seems to have little room to improve customer service. But it's spent the past two years and millions of dollars overhauling systems to do just that.

Centrix Bank in Bedford, N.H., intends to tap the government's billion Small Business Lending Fund to increase its commercial lending and repay what it borrowed from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Northeast Community Bancorp Inc. in White Plains, N.Y., is expanding its loan production office in Danvers, Mass., as part of a major push to increase its lending in eastern Massachusetts.

Even as he favored a broader exemption from risk retention than currently proposed, Rep. Barney Frank said Monday regulators should not undermine skin-in-the-game rules by turning the exception into the rule.

The price of being a good neighbor can be steep for banks foreclosing on condominiums and homes in planned communities.

With a 98% retention rate, USAA Federal Savings Bank seems to have little room to improve customer service. But it's spent the past two years and millions of dollars overhauling systems to do just that.

With the expansion, the $3.7 billion-asset Union First Market Bank now has 99 branches in Virginia, including 29 in Martin's stores.