Regional banks

Freeing a number of big banks from enhanced oversight, including capital requirements, could motivate CEOs to pursue deals. Still, other impediments could prevent a flood of large mergers.

The planned sale will also include $70 million of loans in southern California.

Sterling Bancorp in New York is determined to turn Astoria Financial's largely residential operation into a commercial powerhouse. While investors are skeptical, CEO Jack Kopnisky has proven in the past that such an ambitious plan is doable.

Outsiders gained access to customer information at Southern National Bancorp of Virginia using a malicious email. Other financial institutions, meanwhile, are implementing policies in hopes of avoiding the same fate.

Fintechs should learn to value risk management — and the necessary bureaucracy that comes with it, bankers said this week in defending themselves again criticism that they are a pain in the neck to work with.

Mobile banking, oddly enough, is redefining the role of call center agents as customers handle routine tasks on their smartphones and reach out for help with bigger-picture questions.

The heads of some of the largest U.S. banks are calling for a new security-focused mindset among executives, better forms of ID and collective action in the aftermath of the Equifax breach.

The companies' recently launched partnership furthers the argument that the banking and fintech industries might be better served working together rather than competing.

Ira Robbins, the CEO-in-waiting at Valley National Bancorp, will have to complete a major acquisition, make the bank more competitive on returns and costs and tackle other difficult tasks after taking over for Gerald Lipkin.

Top banking executives called the Republican tax plan an important first step toward tax reform and economic stimulus, but questions immediately arose about whether trade-offs and complexities in the bill would undercut it.