Astoria Financial has set a December date for its annual meeting this year—something the bank never expected to do.

Stonegate Bank in Pompano Beach, Fla., has agreed to buy Insignia Bank in Sarasota, Fla.

Lending Club hired a pair of Wall Street executives to strengthen relationships with investors after many pulled back from buying the loans it arranges online during a tumultuous second quarter.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has started a public finance division and hired an executive from Umpqua Bank in Oregon to run it.

Months after advocating for a blockbuster sale of Comerica, Hudson Executive Capital has slashed its stake in the company, as chatter about a potential deal has fizzled. Still, the firm is credited with pushing the struggling regional bank to adopt a surprisingly aggressive turnaround plan.

Union Bankshares in Richmond, Va., said Wednesday that John Asbury, formerly of First National Bank of Santa Fe in New Mexico, will be its next CEO.

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., has sold a loan portfolio as part of its effort to reduce the size of its discontinued commercial loan book.

Royal Bank of Canada beat analysts' estimates for the fiscal third quarter as its City National purchase in the U.S. bolstered wealth management and capital markets earnings surged. Canada's largest lender raised its dividend 2.5% to 83 cents a share.

First Defiance Financial in Defiance, Ohio, has agreed to pay $63 million for Commercial Bancshares, the $342 million-asset parent of Commercial Savings Bank.

United Bankshares in West Virginia has quietly become a $14 billion-asset player in its region thanks to the M&A strategy of its highly respected leader, Richard Adams, who has a way of establishing a rapport with community bank chiefs. One recent seller is a repeat customer.

Southern First Bank in Greenville, S.C., and Five Star Bank in Warsaw, N.Y., are entering new markets.

The latest lending figures show just how prodigious banks' shift from construction to C&I loans has been since the crisis. Yet a hard look at C&I credits, especially their loss rates, raises questions about whether they are safer.

Artificial intelligence has gotten good enough to do some of the more mundane tasks people perform at banks every day. Whether the trend will kill certain job categories entirely or make a lot of dull work more interesting, or both, is an open debate.

The Windy City is littered with small, privately held banks, some of which are looking to sell. Here is an overview of the challenges — and possible solutions — faced by those banks and ones like them in clogged banking markets around the country.

The holding company for Tennessee's FirstBank plans to hold an initial public offering, in order to make more than $65 million in distributions and debt repayments to its chairman.

The Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., disclosed the identities of directors nominated to its board by two investor groups.

The first commercial mortgage-backed security to comply with "skin in the game" requirements was extremely well received. Market participants credit the way the large banks sponsoring the deal retained the risk – a strategy unavailable to nonbank lenders.

Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga., has agreed to buy Entaire Global Companies in Atlanta.

The regional bank has consolidated all of its digital operations under a single leader. Find out what he thinks about customer expectations, bots, fintechs and the coming convergence of digital banking.

Citizens Community Bancorp in Eau Claire, Wis., said it plans to close four branches in Walmart stores in mid-November.