After spending recent years repairing its balance sheet, Hanmi Financial (HAFC) is again looking to grow. To do so, it's eyeing markets that Korean-American lenders have traditionally neglected.

Shareholders took a big gamble that Atlantic Coast Financial in Florida can raise enough capital to save itself when they rejected a buyout offer. There are more funds to be had these days, but they are harder to get, experts warn.

Four Corners Community Bank in Farmington, N.M., has agreed to buy Citizens State Bank of Cortez in Colorado.

The private equity firm Milestone Partners has sold Mariner Finance, a former division of Baltimore's First Mariner Bancorp.

United Community Financial in Youngstown, Ohio, has raised $5 million of capital and announced plans to reshuffle the executive team at its bank.

John Thain, chief executive officer of CIT Group, said the logic of selling his company to a larger bank is "obvious," while declining to comment on whether such a deal has been discussed.

DBA International has issued a Request for Proposals seeking qualified independent third-party auditing firms to provide compliance audits related to DBA’s Debt Buyer Certification Program.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest lender by assets, will consider acquisitions of as much as C$5 billion ($4.9 billion) as it seeks to expand its wealth- management unit, Chief Financial Officer Janice Fukakusa said.

Renasant and First M&F have lifted the curtain on certain aspects of their planned merger as part of a tentative settlement of a shareholder lawsuit.

Carl Chaney says his relocation recognizes that the Big Easy is a major part of the Gulfport, Miss., company's growth strategy.

Companies that purchase delinquent accounts secured an estimated $230 million in default judgments against New Yorkers in 2011, according to a report from the New Economy Project, but failed to prove they owned the debt in a majority of cases.

Texas Capital Bancshares (TCBI) in Dallas has announced its CEO succession plan. Keith Cargill, 60, will become president and chief executive of the $10 billion-asset company when current chief George Jones, 69, retires at yearend.

Eastern Virginia Bankshares (EVBS) in Tappahannock has extended the deadline for a pending rights offering.

Hanmi announced late Tuesday that Chong Guk Kum would replace Jay S. Yoo as president of the holding company and its $2.8 billion-asset bank.

The famously outspoken CEO of JPMorgan Chase has kept relatively quiet during the last few months of shareholder pressure and regulatory scrutiny. On Tuesday, he tried to make up for lost time.

Banks and others that make "debtor-in-possession" loans to teetering companies hurt the commercial bankruptcy system by forcing unnecessary liquidations and untimely asset sales, critics say.

Banks that still hold Tarp funds face the prospect of dividend rates rising to 9% from 5% at a time when many of those institutions are still struggling.

Urban Partnership Bank in Chicago has been designated a minority depositary institution by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The proposed sale of Atlantic Coast Financial in Jacksonville, Fla., did not sail with investors. Shareholders rejected Bond Street Holdings' $13.1 million, or $5-per-share, offer on Tuesday.