John Reosti

First Savings Financial in Indiana and Dime Community in New York are keen on making more SBA loans as a way to diversify revenue and generate fees through loan sales.

The Wisconsin regional's profits rose 35% in the first quarter on healthy loan growth, wider margins and an improved efficiency ratio, and it said its "satisfactory" CRA rating had been restored.

The New York bank will double in size while gaining greater access to Long Island and low-cost deposits that should come in handy as interest rates rise.

Bankers oppose legislation that would let local governments finance energy efficiency projects with liens ahead of the mortgage.

The Justice Department claims the bank, which has received "satisfactory" ratings in its last four CRA exams, is failing to serve minority neighborhoods around Minneapolis.

The Michigan company expects a recently announced mortgage initiative to produce solid growth in 2017.

Flushing Financial in Uniondale, N.Y., has its next chairman lined up.

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.