Signature Bank in New York is poised to start lending to city governments. The move is well-timed; the wind-down of GE Capital removes a competitor and provides Signature with a chance to buy assets and hire salespeople.

Sun Bancorp in Mount Laurel, N.J., swung to a profit thanks to branch closings and other expense reductions.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., missed first-quarter expectations as merger-related and streamlining expenses negated many of the benefits from recently completed acquisitions.

Large foreign firms are facing key decisions about the size of their footprint here as they approach a Federal Reserve Board requirement to form a separate holding company to house their U.S. subsidiaries.

Deutsche Bank AG's plan to cut costs by selling Postbank and shrinking the securities business is leaving investors cold as the overhaul pushes back targets that management has failed to deliver.

The sharp decline in oil prices has tempered John Allison's enthusiasm for buying banks in the Lone Star State — or even making loans there.

The Pennsylvania company is keen on buying a bank with $1 billion or more in assets to soundly cross a threshold that would bring with it more regulatory scrutiny.

City National Bank has agreed to commit $11 billion in Community Reinvestment Act spending over the next five years in connection with its proposed sale to Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada.

HSBC Holdings executives said little about the future of their U.S. bank and other underperforming businesses at a sometimes contentious annual shareholder meeting Friday.

Low interest rates may be pressuring margins, but they provided a lift to community banks that sell mortgage originations. Bankers are now debating how long the current refi boom will last.

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Hancock Holding in Gulfport, Miss., reported lower profit as low oil prices stymied loan growth in the energy sector.

Columbia Banking System in Tacoma, Wash., tapped organic growth and its purchase of Intermountain Community Bancorp to post higher quarterly profit.

Heritage Commerce in San Jose, Calif., has agreed to buy Focus Business Bank. The $1.7 billion-asset Heritage Commerce will pay about $55 million for the $391 million-asset Focus, which is also based in San Jose.

UniCredit SpA and Banco Santander SA reached an agreement to merge their asset-management businesses in a transaction valuing the combined entity at about 5.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion).

The growth-minded regional bank is biding its time until rates rise and its M&A deals close by slowing riskier types of lending and diversifying its income sources.

At first glance Cardinal Financial in McLean, Va., blew away earnings expectations, rising 220% in the first quarter from the same time last year.

High-profile hits and misses in the first quarter showed the difficulty of finding revenue growth in a period of low interest rates. Some big banks surprised analysts by tapping into fresh revenue streams, while others lost ground.

Small-business lender Funding Circle, which has operations in the United States and the United Kingdom, has received $150 million in new investment.

Strong organic loan growth and a recent acquisition of a small Virginia bank combined to power Eagle Bancorp to another record profit in the first quarter.