The Federal Reserve Board's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey said credit conditions are improving for commercial and industrial loans but standards remain tight on mortgages and consumer debt.

Blue Hills Bank in Boston is buying a New England franchise from Sovereign Bank.

Noninterest expenses remain persistently high at community banks as a need to pursue revenue undermines efforts to aggressively make cuts.

SunTrust Banks (STI) in Atlanta has committed $5 billion to funding commercial mortgages originated by MetLife (MET).

The $22.5 billion Structured Agency Credit Risk transaction serves its purpose, but shows how much more work and thinking needs to be done to redesign the housing finance system.

The feature presents a win-win scenario for banks and their customers as well as an opportunity for mobile-centric financial startups that can serve as the catalyst for widespread adoption.

Fifth Third (FITB) in Cincinnati is selling $85 million worth of shares of Vantiv, its former subsidiary.

Patapsco Bancorp (PATD) in Baltimore has appointed Phil Phillips its new chief executive after recording a quarterly loss.

Fans of Major League baseball are familiar with Citi Field (New York), Comerica Park (Detroit), Chase Field (Phoenix) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh). But they might not have heard of the many minor league ballparks named after banks. From BB&T Park - home of the Winston-Salem Dash - to Whitaker Bank Park in Lexington, Ky., here's a sampling of minor league venues at which banks own the naming rights.

Suffolk Bancorp (SUBK) in Riverhead, N.Y., will record a pretax gain of nearly $4 million in the third quarter after selling shares in Visa.

Hanmi Financial (HAFC) in Los Angeles has hired Bonita Lee, a recently departed executive from BBCN Bancorp (BBCN), as its chief operating officer.

It’s not often that early warnings of future challenges are clear, but it seems that rising interest rates will soon stress a collections operation. Fortunately, with data analytics, firms can prepare and leverage recent gains in compliance and customer experience so that rising delinquencies don’t drive inefficiencies or unnecessary cost increases.

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Heritage Oaks Bancorp (HEOP) in Paso Robles, Calif., has agreed to repurchase the stock warrants it issued through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

WASHINGTON — Regulators seized a $265 million-asset bank based in Fort Myers, Fla., late Friday and sold its operations in a deal protecting all of the failed bank's depositors.

Unlike their bigger competitors, smaller banks are resisting the temptation to pare staff or close mortgage production offices because they still see an opportunity to nibble away at large banks' market share.

The Treasury Department plans to sell shares in five community banks for a discount of approximately 60%.

A group of technology companies is working to build digital currencies into Web browsers, a move that could help payment methods such as Bitcoin thrive.

The $7.2 billion-asset company will auction between $15 million and $35 million of senior notes, it announced Friday.