Local merchants, especially those with credit card minimums, may find a small surcharge improves customer service. Alternately, all retailers should consider product-level surcharging, with fees only for high-cost cards.

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. – American Southwest CU held a grand opening for its expanded offices, a two-story addition to its original building, adding 14,000 square feet of new space.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Redevelopment funded in part by tax dollars will clean a significant chunk of pollution at an old gas station site where Traverse Bay Area CU is building a new headquarters.

Kind words by Stewart McClure, the head of Somerset Hills Bancorp, for Kevin Cummings, the CEO of rival Investors Bancorp, are part of a mutual admiration society budding in New Jersey banking.

Orrstown Financial Services (ORRF) reached a legal settlement with PL Capital over a requirement that the outside investor said wrongly benefited management.

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty said Monday that a U.S. Bancorp unit is a lender to Huntingdon Life Sciences, a U.K.-based research facility that helps makers of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cosmetics and other products assess the safety of their wares.

IMGCAP(1)]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to be inundated with comments on how to rework the proposed 3% cap on loan origination points and fees.

The ABA is raising concerns about a credit union's potential plans to change its field of membership from just Lutherans to serve all Christian denominations.

Terminations of bank deals have dramatically slowed since 2009, when a third of the announced deals were called off. Still, buyers should give regulators a heads-up and leave ample time to finalize details.

The quality of lending for most types of loans is likely to remain fairly steady this year, according to a survey of loan officers released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Dodd-Frank repealed the ban on paying interest on business checking accounts. No longer necessary to circumvent that restriction, sweep accounts with overnight repos can still protect and retain high-balance depositors.

The CEO of the country's largest bank sounded off once again, admitting mistakes and waving the banner for banks on Monday in Miami.

U.S. Bancorp's (USB) wealth management arm is adding advisors on Florida's Gulf Coast, mostly from large rivals.

Improved asset quality and a surge in mortgage lending powered HomeStreet Bank (HMST) in Seattle to record earnings in 2012.

TrustAtlantic Bank has agreed to buy a branch from fellow North Carolina lender Harrington Bank.

Capitol Bancorp in Lansing, Mich., has moved a step closer to selling a troubled unit in New Mexico.

Lending on offices and apartment buildings is expected to rise this year, further evidence that the commercial real estate continues to strengthen.

Identify the megabanks' overpriced products and services, the customers they can't or won't serve. Use outside infrastructure to adapt quickly. B of A, Citi and other financial services oligopolists are highly vulnerable to competition.

Sections of Dodd-Frank and the JOBS Act have made allowances for certain community banks but, whether by design or oversight, have left small thrifts to fend for themselves.