Axa Private Equity has raised $8 billion to buy something a lot of banks need to unload — their ownership stakes in private-equity funds, the firm's Benoit Verbrugghe says.

Wells Fargo (WFC) has agreed to buy a subscription finance portfolio with $6 billion in commitments from WestLB, European commercial bank based in Germany.

We'll know that the banking industry has returned to full health when we see a significant number of new charters. We're not there yet.

A year after completing its acquisition of M&I Bank in Milwaukee, Bank of Montreal's BMO Harris Bank said it is shuttering 17 branches in Wisconsin, as well as five branches in Indiana and one each in Illinois and Kansas.

Fair Isaac Corp. said Friday that it will consolidate its 370 employees in downtown Minneapolis and Arden Hills, Minn., into one campus in Roseville, Minn.

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Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have even more reason to hold back on lending and consider more sales of noncore units after Moody's lowered their credit ratings.

SNL Financial's ranking of the 10 biggest bank and thrift deals since Jan. 1, 2010, reminds us that some acquisitions demand a lot of short-term pain — to get them approved, and to integrate them — for long-term gains.

A month after calling off a planned public offering, Customers Bancorp in Pennsylvania, led by former Sovereign CEO Jay Sidhu, will bring in $100 million in capital by acquiring Acacia Federal Savings.

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French banking giant Societe Generale is selling a portion of its shipping loan portfolio to Citigroup (NYSE:C).

Barclays has appointed Jerry del Missier — the co-chief of it investment banking arm — to the newly created role of chief operating officer in an effort to bolster the bank's global operations during a period of regulatory upheaval.

Ixonia Bancshares in Milwaukee has raised $21 million in fresh capital, including $16.5 million from a wealthy family that also owns a stake in the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club.

When HSBC sold its branches in upstate New York, it created a big change with dozens of branches changing hands. Once the signs are changed, a number of community banks and regionals will have to work hard to keep business in those branches.

Fees paid to outside auditors appear to have been relatively stable in recent years. So have legal expenses for smaller institutions since mid-2010, when the 2,000-odd pages of the Dodd-Frank Act became law.

A Chinese businessman who founded a rice-trading company made up a story about his $60 million acquisition of a Delaware bank. He has since been arrested.

What the investor fights at ECB and First California say about how hard it will be for struggling banks in prized markets to stay independent, and who is vulnerable.

Customers Bancorp, the Wyomissing, Pa., banking comany led by veteran banker Jay Sidhu, is giving up nearly 20% of its ownership to venture into the greater Washington, D.C., market.

DebtX will sell more than $358 million of participations, loans and leases from the Tennessee Commerce Bank receivership on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Palmetto Bancshares in Greenville, S.C., is shedding more than $40 million of problem loans as part of its ongoing effort to clean up its balance sheet and return to profitability.