Investor demand for leveraged loans is so hot that to increase supply lenders are loosening restrictions on refinancing. It's the beginning of a slippery slope, some experts fear.

Hancock Holding in Gulfport, Miss., will close roughly a fifth of its branches as investors press management to cut costs.

Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK) in Little Rock, Ark., is constructing a regional headquarters in Florida.

Bank of America (BAC) is seeking buyers for about 40 branches in New York and Pennsylvania, four people with knowledge of the matter said.

First Niagara Financial (FNFG) in Buffalo, N.Y., has reportedly reached a severance agreement with John Koelmel, who was ousted as chief executive in March.

Believe GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt when he says banks are unlikely to try to buy his consumer finance unit. Few banks could afford the huge business, and regulators would never allow them to buy it, market watchers say.

Fidelity National Financial dominates mortgage underwriting. Its former LPS unit is the top mortgage servicer. The question is whether two companies that have run out of room to grow separately can prosper together.

Old National Bancorp (ONB) in Evansville, Ind., plans to close approximately 10% of its branches in an effort to improve efficiency.

Customers Bancorp sold $103.5 million of common stock in a public offering.

The chief financial officer of Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) in Columbus, Ohio, has left to take the same position at KeyCorp (KEY) in Cleveland.

Chemical Financial in Midland, Mich., has filed a shelf registration that allows it to sell up to $100 million of securities over time.

General Electric is considering spinning off parts of its finance unit through an initial public offering as Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt works to shrink the business.

Mortgage processor Lender Processing Services is reportedly in talks to be acquired by title insurer Fidelity National Financial and private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners in a $2.9 billion deal.

Private-equity groups are looking to cash out their bank holdings given the bullish stock market and bearish outlook for banking. But few will double their money like Warburg Pincus did with its investment in Webster Financial.

Flagstar Bancorp, the Michigan lender rescued by MatlinPatterson Global Advisers in 2009, is considering a sale of the collection rights on more than $70 billion in mortgages, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A growing number of community banks are hiring consultants to negotiate core processing and IT-service contracts, which are typically among a bank's biggest expenses.

Ron Swanner, the head of South Street Financial, had talking points for every query at a tense annual meeting this week — except for, "where's the dessert?"

Regulators usually shut down banks on Friday nights to minimize disruption. However, no rule says failures have to occur on the sixth day of the week. Here is a look, in pictures, at noteworthy seizures on days other than Friday.

Commerce Bank founder Vernon Hill has lost his bid to collect more than $17 million in back pay from Toronto-Dominion Bank, which bought Commerce in 2007.

Shareholders at HopFed Bancorp have elected a director nominated by a critic of the Hopkinsville, Ky., company's latest acquisition deal.