Commercial lending

This may be “the first wave” of managers being held accountable for the phony accounts scandal; high prices discouraging cross-border acquisitions.

The agency's semiannual report on risks in the industry focused heavily on the high volume of commercial loans as well as banks' exposure to nonfinancial corporate debt, which is near a record share of GDP.

The Bridgeport, Conn., company is developing a specialty in banking technology businesses. Like so many other small regionals with ambitious growth plans, it faces a tricky balancing act: how to take creative risks without getting in over its head.

It's the latest expansion step in commercial services there by the Atlanta bank, which has no retail branches in Texas.

Efforts to create city- or state-owned banks in Los Angeles, Seattle and New Jersey have suffered setbacks of late, but public banking advocates are taking the long view.