Business moves under his leadership contributed to the investment firm's struggles, and his dealmaking skills will be needed to make up ground on rivals like Sandler.

First Financial Holdings, of Charleston, S.C., defied the odds by completing its sale of $200 million of problem loans in a dicey economy. Better yet, it booked a $20 million gain.

Green Dot Corp. is licking its lips over banks' new debit card fees, but the prepaid card company still doesn't know quite how large its eventual meal will be.

Goldman Sachs, State Street and Macquarie are among the companies considering an acquisition of MF Global or parts of the struggling company, people familiar with the matter said.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., said Friday that it has raised $100 million in capital from management and investment funds as part of a plan to keep pace with its loan growth.

Park Sterling Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., said it expects to complete its acquisition of Community Capital Corp. in Greenwood, S.C., next week.

Stock repurchases have increased in popularity among banks. Large institutions like Chase and Citi and smaller banks like First Horizon have or are considering open market repurchase programs.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. said it will be converting all of its debit cards to MasterCard Inc. from Visa Inc. But MasterCard's coup comes as new regulations and bank fees are cooling the potential of the overall debit market.

Recent predictions of the demise of branch banking can sound like the premature eulogies that have been floated since the advent of the Internet, but data suggests that a fundamental shift may be underway.

Many failed and open banks will be up for grabs across the South, the company says.

Thomas Michaud will succeed him as CEO of the firm, which is best known in the U.S. for advising on bank mergers through its Keefe, Bruyette & Woods brokerage unit.

As they struggle to find new revenue sources, some community banks have latched on to a business line that once was the domain of big banks — mortgage warehouse lending. Community banker said they like the business due to a lower risk profile and because it's a natural fit with past experience in residential real-estate lending.

Reversing its longtime policy of accepting only American Express Co. cards and its own private-label card at its stores, Neiman Marcus Inc. said Thursday it will also start accepting cards backed by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.

Aided by a sharp drop in problem loans, Synovus Financial Corp. in Columbus, Ga., reported a third-quarter profit of $15.7 million — its first quarterly profit in more than three years.

HSBC Holdings PLC is in talks to sell its Brazilian consumer finance unit, O Estado de S. Paulo reported Thursday.

Investors say their appetite for the nation's smallest banks has waned due to market uncertainty, leading more to consider bigger community banks.

Ocwen Financial Corp., which this week agreed to buy Morgan Stanley's Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., isn't planning on stopping its shopping spree anytime soon.

Its deal for Connecticut Bank and Trust would would provide an entree into the coveted Hartford market, Berkshire's CEO Daly says.

The acquisition of a failed bank in July gave Wintrust Financial Corp.'s earnings a strong boost in the third quarter.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in Troy, Mich., reported a net loss of $14.2 million for the third quarter, a 37% improvement over the same period last year and its smallest quarterly loss since the start of the financial crisis three years ago.