Bank CEOs John W. Allison, Ed Wehmer and David Zalman blended good-natured banter with insights on breaking the $10 billion-asset barrier, the danger of bank buyers paying too much and changing attitudes about M&A at an industry conference this week.

The year's Most Powerful Women in Banking special report contains good news and bad. On the positive side, women are making progress in the upper reaches of banking and finance. The trouble is that they still have a long way to go before achieving gender equality. The reasons are complex.

Community banks should do some serious soul searching about their mortgage operations as they approach the CFPB's January implementation deadline.

A former senior commercial loan officer at the failed Bank of the Commonwealth in Norfolk, Va., has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for hiding bad loans from regulators.

With proposals afoot in both chambers of Congress, and President Obama moving the issue to the forefront, we can dramatically modernize our country’s housing finance system.

The Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group, is urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to allow bitcoins to be used for federal political contributions.

The Federal Housing Administration's share of the mortgage market continued to drop in 2012, falling to 27% of first-lien mortgages after years of representing more than 30% of originations, according to data released Wednesday by federal regulators.

Kinderhook Bank in New York has promoted its chief financial officer to become its new chief executive.

The Federal Reserve Board has ordered Missouri Bank in Warrenton to pay a civil money penalty for violating the National Flood Insurance Act.

I hope we can all encourage our younger coworkers, our daughters and granddaughters, to see these opportunities and be ready to ascend to upper level management positions.

BankThink kicks off a new series in conjunction with American Banker Magazine’s annual Most Powerful Women in Banking issue.

S.Y. Bancorp in Louisville, Ky., plans to redeem $30 million of trust-preferred securities.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., and Sterling Financial in Spokane, Wash., have set a $75 million penalty for terminating their planned merger.

Emclaire Financial in Emlenton, Pa., has partly redeemed preferred stock it issued through the Small Business Lending Fund.

KeyCorp's Beth Mooney tops the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking list; the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance list is led by Karen Peetz of BNY Mellon; and Mary Callahan Erdoes at JPMorgan Chase heads the 25 Women to Watch list.

FDIC warns banks to prepare for future interest rate impact on unrealized gains and losses.

California banker lives out boyhood ballpark dream, albeit in foul territory.

How participants in bank loyalty programs view their personalized offers.

Most business leaders understand that their companies cannot reach full potential if their human resources policies fail to embrace diversity. The problem comes in correcting long-standing practices and mindsets that have become deeply entrenched in the way companies operate and individuals interact.

Whether newcomers to the power scene or bank industry veterans taking on a new challenge, these women bear keeping an eye on.