A federal grand jury says Garrett Douglas Johnson borrowed against law-firm trust accounts that never existed, using new loans to pay off the old ones.

OFG Bancorp, the parent company of Oriental Bank, has steadily climbed American Banker's rankings of the nation's top-performing banks. Here's how the Puerto Rican bank did it.

Banks, credit unions and supervisors told the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council that the legal ambiguity of "material financial risk" in the agency's supervisory rating proposal will create problems for banks and regulators down the road.

Jeff Kesler leads a firm that recently struck a deal to acquire a small bank in Palmer, Texas. Kesler says he's on the lookout for other Lone Star State banks to buy.

HomeTrust Bancshares, which has been eyeing Virginia as part of its growth strategy, plans to acquire the formerly troubled Blue Ridge Bancshares in an all-stock transaction.

The New York State Department of Financial Services warned banks about a security vulnerability in IT software. Now it's acknowledged some companies it oversees were affected by it.

Competition for loans and deposits in Texas is mounting as out-of-state banks swoop into the Lone Star State, eager for a piece of the economic pie. Some Texas-headquartered banks are trying to hold their ground by doubling down on full relationships and customer service.

Bankers, particularly at the midsize and regional level, should be on the lookout for more opportunities to develop networked solutions to common problems, such as know-your-customer operations and fraud detection.

BayFirst Financial in St. Petersburg plans to focus on larger commercial deals after repairing the damage from a failed strategy that emphasized small-dollar loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

As community banks lean on third-party vendors to keep up with AI developments, executives say regulatory standards must be put in place to account for the increased risk they face.

Many banks can't say what software their IT provider runs. Only 58% of community and midsize banks even hold the right to audit that vendor, a survey found.

United Bank and Five Points Bank, both ranked among the top-performing banks by Capital Performance Group, said they have stayed in the mortgage business because they see it as a way to build strong relationships in the communities they serve.

The joint American Banker-Capital Performance Group study of 2025's top-performing banks reveals that for institutions under $2 billion of assets, success comes from a fee-income engine, a defensible lending niche and radical cost discipline.

First Guaranty in Hammond Louisiana agreed to a consent order with federal and state regulators that's aimed at improving its credit quality.

HBT Financial in Bloomington, Illinois, has agreed to acquire Tri-County Financial Group in a deal valued $204.6 million.

Gateway Bank, which has narrowed its losses under new CEO Mukhtar Ali, hired a team of residential-construction lenders to speed its return to profitability.

Supporters of mutual banks are lining up behind a proposed regulatory overhaul. The Fed's plan would make it easier for depositor-owned banks to raise capital.

A portfolio review initiated by BCB Bancorp's new CEO, Tom O'Brien, led to a spike in nonaccrual loans at the Bayonne, New Jersey-based bank.

A recipe of no securities, mostly adjustable-rate loans and a cheap rural deposit base made the Texas bank the top performer in the $2 billion-$10 billion asset class.

"Increase Bank is the bank I needed at Stripe," CEO Darragh Buckley said as he announced the rebrand of a community bank he acquired last year.