Approval rates for small-business loans dropped at big banks for the first time in seven months, as nonbanks continue to grant loans at a much more generous pace.

Pennant Management, which says it bought $179 million in bogus USDA-backed loans, claims the agency put up barriers to verifying the loans that indirectly enabled the alleged fraud.

BB&T completed more than 100 acquisitions under now-retired Chief Executive John A. Allison. In an excerpt from his latest book, Allison discusses his reasoning for M&A, while providing a blueprint for scouting targets. This is part 1 of 5.

CVB Financial in Ontario, Calif., will have a new chairman starting Jan. 1.

Connecticut and New York are the only states to have established institutions specifically called green banks to stimulate lending on clean energy projects, but others could soon join them following the election of green bank-friendly governors in nine states.

New York's top banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky, who used his leverage to stiffen penalties against some of the world's largest financial institutions, will probably step down next year to take a job in the private sector, said a person familiar with the matter.

Banc of California has completed its acquisition of the Southern California branch network of Popular Community Bank.

First Niagara Financial Group raised to $1.1 billion the amount of the goodwill impairment charge it recorded in the third quarter, as the Buffalo, N.Y., company cuts the value of assets acquired since 2009.

Harvard Illinois Bancorp in Harvard, Ill., which recently disclosed that it had been exposed to a fraud scheme involving certain investments, has hired an investment bank to help it "evaluate strategic alternatives."

Central Bancshares in Muscatine, Iowa, has agreed to buy Buffalo Prairie State Bank in Buffalo Prairie, Ill.

Former President Bill Clinton addressed a crowd of thousands of Southern California kids Sunday at the largest-ever gathering for financial literacy education.

Bay Commercial Bank in Walnut Creek, Calif., has stepped in to outbid a rival to buy Valley Community Bank in Pleasanton, Calif.

The National Credit Union Administration claims a Deutsche Bank unit was negligent as a trustee overseeing mortgage-backed securities and played a role in the failure of five corporate credit unions.

The bottom line at Solera National Bancorp in Lakewood, Colo., improved from a year earlier, though losses persisted amid management upheaval.

Ambitious Renasant Corp. in Mississippi is still billions of dollars away from a key regulatory threshold of $10 billion in assets, but it's getting ready now for the demands that come with growing that large. Two of its top executives explain why.

A large activist investor has given an early vote of confidence to Malvern Bancorp's new chief executive, while backing off of demands that the Paoli, Pa., company sell itself.

Shaza Andersen recently sent out a companywide email stating that employees who don't deposit their paychecks into a WashingtonFirst account will soon be required to pick up paper checks — from her office.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Frontier Bank FSB in Palm Desert, Calif.

WASHINGTON — Policymakers should consider changing rules that limit the amount of debt that holding companies can carry in order to exempt more community banks from the restrictions, a senior Federal Reserve Board official said Friday.

The U.S. Postal Service's inspector general said Friday that it is seeking proposals from outside groups about possible postal banking services.