Financial institutions

The two groups have launched a new effort to promote the benefits of being certified as a community development financial institution.

Waterfall Bank, which has ties to an investment group that handles affairs for family offices, would be based in the Tampa Bay area.

The accelerating pace of branch closures is partly due to industry consolidation, according to the community reinvestment group that authored the new report.

The Columbus, Ohio, company says it has delivered on M&A promises before, and many observers say its deal for rival TCF Financial is an opportunistic move in its bid to build a Midwestern powerhouse. But others questioned whether Huntington's cost-cutting and profit expectations are too optimistic.

The deal would create a $168 billion banking company in the Midwest and be the latest in a string of regional bank combinations.

The Boston-based firm has been informally working with an adviser to review strategic alternatives for State Street Global Advisors, including a merger with a competitor, people familiar with the matter said.

His family got its start in banking by financing camel-caravan traders in the Ottoman Empire and eventually expanded its reach into the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

The agency's principals are scheduled to meet Dec. 15 to vote on a new definition for brokered deposits and on regulatory standards for industrial bank parents.

The automaker is reportedly planning to apply for a bank charter so it could collect deposits and grow its own auto-finance business. That could create more competition for Ally, which was spun off from GM in 2006 but remains a key lending partner.

Though it is unclear why Rhinebeck Bancorp is looking to form Rhinebeck Commercial Bank, other mutual banks have pursued the strategy to work around a state law barring them from working with municipalities.