John Reosti

The Pennsylvania company has redoubled its outreach to low- and moderate-income consumers by partnering with Operation Hope on a down payment assistance program and naming a veteran banker to the newly created post of director of fair and responsible banking. But despite these efforts, history says Fulton is unlikely to escape punishment if the Justice Department finds that it violated fair-lending laws.

The Justice Department has widened its investigation of Fulton Financial’s mortgage lending practices to include four new units.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., reported higher quarterly profit on the strength of tight expense control and strong mortgage banking revenue.

West Town Bancorp in Illinois has revved up its government-backed lending to small businesses, making it a good example of how community banks can outhustle big lenders in the quest for new sources of fee income.

The executive who sold North Fork to Capital One for billions of dollars and later revived BankUnited discusses his plans, and reflects on a long career, now that he is retiring as BankUnited's CEO.

United Community and Wells Fargo are among the banks building platforms to lend to senior-care facilities. Demographics suggest the business should grow significantly in coming years.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is buying a bank with a national mortgage platform. The company hopes the business will provide a much-needed lift in fee income.

Small-business lenders are scrambling for financing to accommodate a possible real-estate-related borrowing surge once a key federal rule change takes effect next week.

New rules have made it more challenging to originate mortgages without drawing attention from regulators. Mercantile Bank in Michigan, however, believes that positive trends in its biggest markets are incentive enough to hire lenders and improve its systems.

At least one banker has gone public with expectations that the OCC will force his institution to hold more capital. More could soon follow.

JPMorgan Chase, drawing from its experience in the Motor City, has created a $125 million program designed to help community development financial institutions make bigger investments in impoverished neighborhoods.

A small Connecticut bank takes the plunge into mobile-friendly mortgages in a bid to turn an attractive pool of student-loan borrowers into lifetime customers.

Credit unions and banks are worried that the rule will eventually force smaller institutions to use costly modeling programs to comply.

A joint venture formed by a regional credit union trade group and a loan servicer has a simple mission: to help small credit unions that lack expertise in SBA lending jump into the booming 7(a) market.

Mortgage banking represented one weak spot in Wells Fargo's third-quarter results and company officials said that would likely be the case in the fourth quarter.

As the Small Business Administration's flagship 7(a) loan program breaks records, its other loan program stagnates. Advocates for so-called 504 loans hope a drive to permit CRE refinancing will inject new life.

The bill would require written contract amendments, signed by the lender, for most loans. Legislators took up the issue after a judge in the state sided with a borrower's claim of having an oral agreement from Bank of America to modify a mortgage.

United Community Banks took hefty hits during the financial crisis due to its focus on real estate lending. Today, the Georgia company is diversifying by building teams dedicated to SBA lending and making other specialty loans.

If successful, Provident Bank in Massachusetts and Cincinnati Federal in Ohio would become the first new mutual holding companies since 2011, giving some hope that the structure could make a comeback.

Five Star Bank is the latest financial institution to settle claims that it avoided lending to minorities. More redlining cases can be expected, industry experts say.