As part of the heavy competition in New York, BankUnited CEO John Kanas has swiped a number of bankers away from rivals, including Capital One and Signature Bank. Most worked for him at the old North Fork Bank.

Do mortgage servicing layoffs at JPMorgan Chase indicate there's a light at the end of the tunnel for the mortgage crisis?

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Reliance Bancshares in St. Louis has named a new chief executive for its bank unit.

California Republic Bancorp in Irvine has securitized and sold $238 million of notes backed by its car loans.

The NCUA has approved the mergers of several struggling credit unions, including four more in California.

F&M Bank Corp. (FMBM) in Timberville, Va., has named new chief financial and administrative officers at its bank unit as part of a series of promotions.

The business credit card sector, which was on life support near the end of the recession, appears to be strengthening.

First PacTrust Bancorp (BANC) in Irvine, Calif., is planning to raise about $46 million through a sale of common stock.

The Onion, a satirical news site, reported that chief executives from the largest financial institutions "are just about ready to completely destroy the world again."

The Federal Trade Commission added eight new defendants to a credit card rate reduction case brought last year - including a payment processor that allegedly helped with the fraud.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has charged nine former directors of Southern Community Bank in Fayetteville, Ga., with approving risky loans that later led to its collapse in 2009.

Lawsuit filings dropped dramatically in May in all three key consumer statute categories - Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company that tracks the data from U.S. district courts.

OVERLAND, Kan. – Mazuma Credit Union said it will break ground on a new 60,000-square-foot headquarters on July 11.

ALTOONA, Penn. – Altoona Regional Health System FCU on Thursday opened its new main office, which features energy efficient office facilities and areas for new accounts, tellers, investments, financial education, coin counter, drive-thru service, and a 24-hour ATM.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – VyStar CU has agreed to sell its former 43,539-square-foot call and operations center for $1.6 million to Edu-Pro management, which will use it to develop the first Acclaim Academy charter school in the area.

Banks on the block are still trading at reasonable valuations, and their financials are offering more clarity than in the recent past. That's has some industry observers believing that the stars are aligning for deals to get done. For sellers, the dilemma is whether to take the modest multiples on offer or hold for more at the risk of missing out altogether.

Republic First may try to revive its 2008 deal to sell itself to Metro Bancorp. That effort died at the feet of regulators but still makes sense in the eyes of some. Other banks are said to be asking similar questions about old deals.

American Express Co., the biggest U.S. credit-card issuer by customer purchases, named McKesson Corp.'s Jeffrey C. Campbell as chief financial officer.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on June 27 for North Carolina congressman Mel Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency.