Bank M&A activity has been slow this year outside of an occasional spurt, and the deals have been relatively modest. Stubborn sellers, strict regulators and renewed stock market volatility are among the obstacles.

First BanCorp (FBP) has traveled a bumpy road to recovery but top management hopes a clear strategy will help the San Juan, Puerto Rico, company complete its turnaround.

The chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase has spent months fending off critics of his leadership skills. Now he's dispensing advice about those skills on LinkedIn.

Ocwen's agreement to buy $78 billion in mortgage servicing rights from OneWest is part of a string of deals by it and other nonbanks meant to wring value from remnants of the mortgage meltdown that many banks seek to unload.

Rough calculations reveal that the Greensboro, N.C., company could be pledging nearly $2 million in tangible common equity to back Security Savings' assets.

The $625 million-asset BNCF Financial will pay about $5 million in cash for the $75 million-asset Wilton. BNC Financial said it expects no tangible book value dilution after the deal is completed.

F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., has agreed to buy BCSB Bancorp in Baltimore in a stock transaction valued at $79 million, or $23.77 a share. The acquisition is the company's third in less than eight months.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) plans to break off its private-equity unit as an independent firm as the business raises a new fund backed by outside investors.

Prudential Bancorp in Philadelphia is planning a second-step conversion.

The Atlanta mortgage servicer said Thursday it would buy $78 billion in unpaid principal balances of mortgage servicing rights using a combination of cash and available credit.

NewBridge Bancorp (NBBC) in Greensboro, N.C., is acquiring a cash-strapped mutual at the behest of state regulators.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said regulators will not shy away from using their new "orderly liquidation authority" in the next crisis.

A German court weighed in on a bank mishap that gives new meaning to the term "you snooze, you lose."

West Bancorp. recently took out a loan to buy back 8% of its common stock, while BNC Bancorp used borrowed funds to exit Tarp.

Security State Bank has agreed to buy Security State Bank in a deal that could eliminate some brand confusion in central Iowa.

Parallon, a healthcare industry business and operational services provider, announced this week that it will acquire The Outsource Group, a healthcare revenue cycle management firm.

PNC Financial Services, the second-largest U.S. regional bank, faces the same decision on its 21 percent stake in BlackRock that confronts many individual investors: sell or hold?

Heartland Financial USA in Dubuque, Iowa, has agreed to buy Morrill Bancshares in Merriam, Kan.