Paul Davis

As expenses get harder to tighten and net interest income remains strained, fee income becomes more important for banks.

BB&T and KeyCorp's quarterly results showed how more diversified regional banks can turn to their insurance sales, investment banking and other fee generators for backup until interest rates improve. Whereas the smaller Huntington Bancshares needed strong loan growth in a quarter (and year) when fees fell.

Royal Bank of Canada is ready to take another shot at U.S. banking, agreeing to buy City National in Los Angeles.

Kelly King, BB&T's chairman and chief executive, expressed frustration with the interest rate environment. It's "challenging to get expenses down today."

Some leaders of large community banks like are eager to line up the next big deal. Others seem content to steal lenders and open offices after several years of acquisitions.

HomeTrust Bank faced a legal challenge from HomeTown Bank after it entered southwestern Virginia. The now-resolved dispute serves as a reminder that banks must be aware of branding challenges when they enter new markets.

Perhaps the greatest challenge banks face these days is somehow balancing the desire to grow with the very real need to reduce overhead.

First Financial Northwest in Washington ousted a longtime CEO, while HopFed Bancorp in Kentucky seated an outsider on its board and canceled an acquisition, under pressure from activist shareholders. More banks can expect similar fights.

Margin pressure, regulatory hurdles and intense competition will test the nation's smallest banks next year, industry experts predict. Those issues could lead to a resurgence of consolidation among community banks.

Banks in the forecasted path of Hurricane Sandy braced Sunday for the storm, while making plans to help their operations weather it without interruption.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and BB&T will still be standing a decade from now, BB&T CEO Kelly King says. His list omits a number of other prominent players, including Citigroup.

The company's net income more than tripled from the fourth quarter and rose 39% from a year earlier, to $245 million. Revenue rose 8% from the fourth quarter and 3% from a year earlier, to $2.2 billion.

G. Kennedy Thompson, a former chairman and chief executive of Wachovia Corp., will join the board of BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C.

Still awash with deposits and seeing limited opportunity to make loans, banks are trying to lift net interest margins by shrinking long-term debt.

Two of the banking industry's biggest turnaround challenges fell further behind the pack in the 3Q, and it's now up to their rookie CEOs to turn on the afterburners.

Executives at several regional banks said this week that they have done what they could to resolve credit losses and now must wait on the economy before making more progress.

Plagued by bad press and a struggling stock, Bank of America tried Tuesday to buy some time by erring on the side of disclosure.

First Horizon National Corp. said declines in problem assets may have hit a temporary wall, with further improvement possibly on hold until mid-2011.

The new leader of BBVA's U.S. operations has already set a clear direction: countertrend. Manuel Sanchez was reluctant in an interview to display the appetite for acquisitions common among bankers these days, including his former boss.

Rivals of BofA are expected to wait and see how the Charlotte company's moves sit with the public and with Elizabeth Warren, the special adviser who's setting up the CFPB.