Europe's banking industry needs to shrink its balance sheets to improve capital structure, said JP Morgan Chief Executive James Staley Friday.

Michael Larrowe, a Cardinal executive who was once derided by an activist investor, becomes CEO and rejoins the board as a group of recently elected directors looks to move the Floyd, Va., company forward.

Ailing Capitol Bancorp is corralling some of its most dire bank units — Bank of Las Vegas, Indiana Community Bank, Sunrise Bank of Albuquerque and Sunrise Bank of Arizona — as part of its ongoing effort to raise fresh capital.

Patriot Financial Partners, a Philadelphia PE firm, hires the former CEO of a community bank in Pennsylvania.

Thomas Marano, Residential Capital's chief executive, said Thursday that Nationstar Mortgage will likely face competition in its pursuit of the bankrupt lender's mortgage assets.

Edward Grebow is making use of the $100 million in private equity that the New York bank received last year, tackling bad loans and expanding into prepaid cards and residential mortgages.

Bharat Masrani is betting on branches at a time when many others are questioning their value. He explains why an aggressive U.S. expansion strategy — by acquisition and internal growth — makes sense for the Canadian-owned TD Bank.

In what would be its first acquisition in its 11-year history, Westfield Bancorp in Westfield Center, Ohio, is buying Western Reserve Bancorp in nearby Medina for about $18 million in cash.

Two years after postponing its planned conversion to a 100% stock-owned company, Northfield Bancorp, a mutual holding company in Avenel, N.J., is finally ready to take that second step.

There were more deals in May worth at least $50 million than in any month in well over a year, but market volatility could slow activity down again.

Three years after arriving, CEO Chris Bauer has helped Anchor survive by reducing costs and shrinking the Madison, Wis., company's assets. The thrift remains adequately capitalized, but the company still needs a $250 million lifeline.

Pegasus Bank in Dallas said Wednesday that it had raised $3.5 million in a stock sale and that it is using the funds to bolster its capital ratios.

Recent proxy fights illustrate how the high-stakes contests are getting ever more expensive for bankers and insurgents alike.

Bad times are driving a large majority of banks to rethink their operating models, a KPMG survey says. Wealth management and technology are priorities, branches may have to be turned into marketing stores, and M&A is still back burner.

A Kansas banking company that last week raised fresh capital to fuel its growth has struck a deal that would more than double its size.

BNC Bancorp has no immediate plans to exit the program, despite recently raising $73 million from a private placement. CEO Swope Montgomery believes BNC's acquisitions will more than offset the current 5% borrowing rate for the Tarp funds.

Ocwen Financial (OCN) has purchased the commercial servicing rights portfolio of Aurora Bank.

Asta Funding Inc., an Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based public debt buyer, announced late Monday it had repurchased one million shares of its common stock from investment fund management firm Peters MacGregor Capital Management Pty. Ltd. in a privately negotiated deal. Peters MacGregor Capital is an Australian fund manager that specializes in global equities.

In what would be its first acquisition in nearly a decade, Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) in Marietta, Ohio, announced Tuesday that it is buying Sistersville Bancorp in West Virginia for $9.8 million in cash.

Mortgage servicing company Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (NSM) has agreed to acquire roughly $10.4 billion in residential mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America Corp. (BAC) in a co-investment with Newcastle Investment Corp. (NCT).