Performance reports

More banks are steadily raising and reinstating cash dividends. Bankers say the increases reflect improving confidence with the economy, though some investors contend that higher payouts signal challenges deploying capital.

Dime Community and Flushing Financial are selling real estate in the borough, taking advantage of rising real estate prices. The banks are using process to reinvest in branches and technology.

The Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has indicated it plans to make changes to how financial institutions calculate allowances for loan loss reserves, moving from an incurred loss model to an expected loss model.

Unemployment and gas prices are both down, and interest rates may soon be heading up — all of which spells good news for credit unions' bottom lines. That's the verdict from a number of CFOs and economists who spoke with Credit Union Journal and predicted that while sunnier times may be on the way, CUs can do more now to bolster the bottom line later.

WASHINGTON — The first quarter of 2015 might have been a weak one for overall GDP growth, but credit unions exhibited strength in a number of areas.

Fifth Third Bancorp revised downward its first-quarter profit by 6%, or 2 cents per share, after the Cincinnati company booked a $30 million impairment on aircraft leases.

A new study by a consumer group found that checking account disclosures at the nation's largest banks have improved, but overdraft fee practices are largely unchanged from previous years.

Top-performing community banks have found different ways to provide double-digit returns, despite numerous challenges facing the banking industry.

Looking past standard gauges of return on equity and return on assets, bank investors have wide opinions on what makes a bank a high-performing institution relative to peers.

A number of this year's top-performing banks have been able to ride the highs and lows of the economic cycle to still produce long-term returns to investors.

What makes for a high-performing bank? We take an in-depth look at what drove profitability for the institutions at the top of our annual rankings, all of which are based on three-year average returns on equity. See the list of banks and thrifts with under $2 billion in assets or the mid-tiers with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets. Stay tuned as those with $10 billion to $50 billion of assets are still to come.

Rates are low and compliance costs are rising. But banks with $2 billion or less in assets still have momentum in several key areas, based on data compiled by Capital Performance Group.

Bank of America's shareholders cast far fewer votes than a year earlier for a key director who helped combine the titles of chairman and chief executive, allowing Brian Moynihan to hold both posts while sparking anger among investors.

Investors have varied expectations of how banks should build and deploy capital. Ultimately, management teams need to stick to their growth plans rather than serve the whims of specific shareholders.

First Citizens BancShares in Raleigh, N.C., reported higher earnings on the backs of two acquisitions.

Bank of America, led by Brian Moynihan, at its annual meeting tried to look responsive to criticisms of its corporate governance, slow turnaround and other matters while announcing it would phase out lending to coal companies.

Earnings at HSBC's North American operation fell 12% in the first quarter. Details about the unit's future restructuring are due next month, but executives offered reassurances Tuesday that they don't plan to divest it.

Though concerned about diluting NCUA's efforts to help small CUs survive and thrive, credit unions largely support the agency's proposal to increase asset-size definition from $50 million to $100 million, with most pushing for going all the way up to $550 million, in keeping with the FDIC's definition.

Shares of HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank, fell the most in two months in London trading after first-quarter revenue missed analysts' estimates and costs increased at a faster pace.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Altura Credit Union on Friday reported $2.34 million in net income for the first quarter — stretching its streak of consecutive quarters of positive earnings to 16.