The third quarter is nearly over, and the news from the trenches is bad. Loan demand is weak. Mortgage volatility caught many bankers off guard. And the only way to make a buck is to buy or sell assets, executives said at the recent Barclays Global Financial Services Conference in New York, the American Mortgage Conference in Raleigh, N.C., and elsewhere.

Cortland Bancorp in Ohio is exiting the wholesale-mortgage business.

Old Line Bancshares in Bowie, Md., has raised $12 million through a private placement.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the largest U.S. home lender, would survive $29.7 billion of loan defaults under a company-run stress test and stay above minimum regulatory capital levels in a severe economic downturn.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank, said internal stress tests show the company would come through an economic crisis with more than enough capital to stay in business.

A mountain of regulations set to go into effect in January, the Fed's mixed signals and fair lending issues topped the list of concerns at a recent mortgage bankers' risk management conference in Phoenix. American Banker's Kate Berry, who attended the event, reports.

Larry Uhlick will retire as chairman of the Birmingham, Ala., company's bank on Sept. 30. BBVA Compass also said in a press release Monday that Manolo Sanchez, the bank's president and chief executive, will succeed Uhlick.

SB Financial (SBFG) in Defiance, Ohio, has filed a shelf registration that would allow it to raise up to $30 million over the next three years.

The acquisition-minded Heritage Financial and Washington Banking are said to be seeking targets to nearly double their size, motivated in part by the recent Umpqua-Sterling deal.

Activist investor Lawrence Seidman is pressuring OBA Financial Services to find a buyer, saying its poor asset growth, lagging efficiency and "abysmal" returns on average assets and average equity make it necessary.

Bank of America Corp., the second-largest U.S. bank, said it could survive a deep U.S. recession that includes a 21 percent drop in housing prices and an 11.7 percent jobless rate.

J. Michael Cline will retire from his position as president and CEO role at the end of 2013, the $265 million-asset company announced Monday.

First Citizens Banc Corp (FCZA) in Sandusky, Ohio, plans to raise up to $25 million to redeem shares it originally issued as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has filed more lawsuits against the directors and officers of failed financial institutions in 2013 than in any year since the recession, according to a Cornerstone Research report released Monday.

Many regulators and pundits overlook the distinct difference between responsible lenders who offer a safe, reliable loan product, and unscrupulous lenders who commit fraudulent acts and scam consumers.

The financial lure of credit cards has become increasingly hard to resist for regional banks that exited the business several years ago.

King Bancshares in in Kingman, Kan., has merged its consumer finance unit, Western Credit, into its Citizens Bank of Kansas.

American Express, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are continuing to sell controversial credit card payment protection and monitoring services, even as the industry braces for a second round of regulatory crackdowns.

OnDeck, a New York-based online lender that makes small-business loans, announced Monday that it has raised $130 million in new debt funding.

Banc of California (BANC) in Irvine has acquired the investment advisory firm Palisades.