Performance reports

The California company has poached lenders from larger rivals, while expanding into specialty finance lines. Those moves have positioned Opus for a growth spurt that should outpace organic growth at most other community banks.

Vincent Hui, senior director with Cornerstone Advisors Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he expects interest rates will go up "a little bit" in 2015, but nowhere near the sharp rise some forecasters predicted near the end of 2014.

The Texas banker, who chaired the ICBA during the financial crisis, feels much better about the regulatory environment for smaller banks. She just wishes that interest rates would finally rise.

The lobbying group's agenda typically includes a general session featuring top regulators. But with the ICBA's Washington Policy Summit two months away, the group opted to steer the focus of its annual convention toward education.

Jack Hartings is a vocal proponent of reduced regulation for small banks. But the CEO of Peoples Bank in Ohio wants Washington to force other industries to share the burden of improving cybersecurity and cleaning up after breaches.

WASHINGTON — A new report finds that credit union lending hit record levels last year thanks to more consumers taking advantage of low loan rates at credit unions and continued improvements in the economy.

A senior regulatory official on Wednesday continued the alarm bell over the brisk growth in auto lending, suggesting that some lending terms could be setting up banks for trouble.

JPMorgan Chase executives used an annual investor gathering to hammer home their arguments why the company's sum is more valuable than its parts and to promise investors that they will keep slicing costs.

Lending Club lost $9 million in the fourth quarter, hurt by expenses tied to its highly publicized initial public offering and by other costs.

First Niagara Financial Group in Buffalo, N.Y., overstated its allowance for loan and lease losses from the middle of 2013 through the end of 2014 and may restate earnings for the period.

American Banker’s Index of Banking Activity hit a three-year low in January as falling oil prices and harsh winter weather tamped down borrowing.

Busting up JPMorgan Chase would result in a collection of financial services companies with higher back-office costs, more divided capital and less power to be a world leader, the company's CFO said Tuesday.

A disappointing 2014 for HSBC has CEO Stuart Gulliver considering "extreme" changes at its U.S. bank and other struggling units, which he said are a drag on return on equity.

KEY WEST, Fla. — Keys Federal Credit Union, which was placed into voluntary conservatorship by NCUA in September 2009, announced that it generated "improved performance" in 2014 by "focusing on greater efficiency and consumer lending."

Fannie Mae reported net income of $14.2 billion last year, a sharp decline from the record $84 billion in 2013 that was inflated by accounting for tax credits.

The OTC Markets Group has opened up its community bank marketplace to privately held institutions, offering a chance for investors to monetize their holdings without selling the bank.

Several Korean-American banks are entering markets and businesses designed to target mainstream clients and other ethnic groups. Such moves are viewed as a way to improve the bottom line as revenue growth proves daunting.

SEAFORD, Del. — The members who get the most out of their relationship with $252 million Sussex County Federal Credit Union received a Valentine's Day present of sorts.

First Defiance Financial, in Ohio, has revised upward its fourth-quarter earnings after lowering its provision for fourth-quarter income taxes.

A recent research paper found that community banks' assets, along with market share in most types of commercial lending, have fallen since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed. The report is giving advocates of smaller institutions more data to rally around.