Strategic planning

The company hired Kevin Thompson, a CFO with big-bank experience, to take over its top financial post. Once a fast-growing bank, Opus has spent recent months cutting costs and exiting certain business lines.

The San Francisco company is one of numerous online lenders that are struggling to become profitable.

The online small-business lender, which has been cutting expenses, said it is on track to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter.

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.

Focus on ensuring your teams know why you make changes, and they will be far more likely to make those changes work for you.

It's tough to be a bank director these days, as the public and elected officials hold the board responsible for misdeeds that occur on their watch. Turnover is up, and filling the seats is more of a challenge than ever.

The New Jersey company reported lower third-quarter profit that included severance costs from a two-year program to boost its bottom line.

The traditional community bank model of "being local and providing good service" no longer provides an competitive edge in a world dominated by online banking, according to Douglas Kennedy, CEO of Peapack-Gladstone.

Profits at the custody bank rose 16%, but it announced a new streamlining program that is expected to generate yearly savings of $250 million by 2020.

The San Francisco bank hopes to win middle-market business from its new commercial offices in Cleveland and Dallas.