Walking through the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas, Kit Cheung could easily be mistaken for a whale on a baccarat bender. But while Cheung is placing a big bet in the town-$25 million, in fact-he's not doing so on the Strip.

Financial institutions demonstrate a high interest in Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), as they could represent a viable long term opportunity for asset growth. Implementation, product development, and product management, however, must take into account low consumer awareness and interest, and must navigate unclear and complicated business to business relationships to ensure profitability and account holder relationship enhancement with the goal of consumers selecting their primary financial institutions for the products.

Just three months after filing an application for a bank charter in California, California Bank of Commerce withdrew its application to form a bank based in Lafayette.

The past five years or so have been heady times for community bank startups. As beneficiaries of the fallout from the last wave of big-bank mergers, they've gained disgruntled customers seeking first-name service with a smile

With the radical changes in demographics in this country, a new batch of de novo banks has cropped up to reach out to both recent immigrants and multi-generational ethnic markets. Though the strategy of niche marketing is by no means new, the execution is increasingly innovative as these ethnic and relationship-focused banks respond to the needs of their customers. Whether they are offering product -bending innovation, or redesigning their bricks-and-mortar locations, the approach is giving new entrants an edge over larger competitors in reaching what are largely untapped markets.

This survey explores how bankers juggle myriad banking and business issues and ensure good governance, safe and sound operations and profitability.

Clients of The Nubank Group raised a combined $83 million in capital for the first six months of the year, with two clients surpassing state records for the amount of capital raised.

Thousands of new commercial banks have been char-tered in the U.S. over the past two decades. As theU.S. banking industry continues to consolidate, thesede novo banks are potentially important for preserv-ing competition and providing credit in local markets.

This article examines the funding of bank supervision in the context of the dual banking system. Since 1863, commercial banks in the United States have been able to choose to organize as national banks with a charter issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Effective March 29, 2006, the Federal Reserve Board adopted new capital and leverage guidelines for "small" bank holding companies. The changes to the guidelines have the result that approximately 84% of all bank holding companies in the country will no longer be subject to the consolidated capital rules.

The comment period has now expired. Nonetheless, because my personal belief is that these rules have flown under the radar with most community bankers, I urge community bankers to contact their trade associations and to comment on the proposed role changes.

(RTTNews) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a speech on community banking at the Independent Community Bankers of America National Convention and Techworld on Wednesday.

Although there are well over 800 publicly traded U.S. banks, many investors shy away from this sector. The reported financial statements look funny, and the results don't neatly fit into the handy-dandy screens and formulae that many investors like to use.

Corporate Governace has been brought to the forefront of banker's minds in 2005.

Patriot Federal Bank will start out with one branch and about $10 million in deposits. It will employ nine people in Canajoharie and focus on residential mortgages, consumer loans and smaller commercial loans.

With constant media and regulator attention on boards of directors' responsibilities and the ongoing implementation of initiatives encouraged by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Grant Thornton initiated the Survey of Public Bank Audit Committee Chairmen as a complement to the Grant Thornton Survey of Community Bank Executives.

The FDIC sums up the 2nd quarter of 2005.

Brian Hyzdu, the president and chief executive of Service 1st Bank in Stockton, Calif., had so much fun opening it in 1999 that a few years later he started a side business: advising on organizing banks.

Based on growing initial capital positions, aided in large part by a renaissance in investor interest, the startup bank phenomenon clearly continues to build momentum.

When you make your way down busy Dallas Parkway in the Galleria area of Dallas, you?re likely to drive right past T Bank without noticing it, even if you?re watching closely for a sign. That?s because the founders and employees of this unique financial institution don?t believe in spending money on signs. Or drive through lanes. Or buildings, for that matter.

Banks mostly owned by Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans grew faster than mainstream banks last year, and the trend is expected to continue as the minority population grows.

A schism in a group organizing a new local bank via a public stock offering has put the bid in jeopardy.

A small but growing number are turning to self-directed IRAs -- accounts with third-party custodians that allow them to diversify their retirement savings beyond the typical mutual fund menu into investments such as real estate and community bank stocks.

Bankmark announced today that its client, American Riviera Bank (Proposed) has notified both the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) of its intent to establish a bank to serve the Santa Barbara area, with headquarters in the downtown Historic District.

Meet a new breed of financial entrepreneur - the hometown banker turned serial start-up artist.

There has not been so much start-up action in New York State since 1999.

Bankmark announced today that it has a new client, Bluegrass Community Bank (In Organization) in Kentucky.

A custodian for individual retirement accounts has been making the rounds of investor meetings of would-be banks, and persuading many attendees to invest in the start-ups through their IRAs.

Over the past year NuBank Group has held more than two dozen events and drawn several hundred attendees.

Statistics from the Conferences of State Bank Supervisors

Banking and Investment Banking & Securities - Published by KPMG

Looking to expand, the president and chief executive of SNB Bancshares Inc. decided to take his financial institution public -- the state's third bank IPO in nearly six years.

Dan Hudson, a bank consultant behind the recent organization of T Bank in North Dallas, said he's getting inquiries from Latino entrepreneurs interested in launching their own banks -- including one group in South Dallas that could open for business next year.

Inspired by big banks' stepped-up pursuit of the Hispanic market and what they see as the industry's poor understanding of that market, Hispanic entrepreneurs are starting their own community banks.

Commercial banks reported net profits of more than $100 billion while maintaining historically high equity.

The number of new banks being started in metro Atlanta has not kept pace with the number of banks being acquired over the past 12 years, but experts expect a lot more of both this year.

It's a race to the altar for many banks after the announcements of mergers between four of the nation's largest banks.

Bank mergers show no signs of going away.

Greenspan speaks before the Independent Community Bankers of America Convention

Competition and looming revenue pressures spur the sector's fastest acquisition pace since the go-go M&A days of 1998

A former bank executive from Ohio has dropped his plans for a new community bank in Charlotte but says he may revive the project later.

Former Ohio bank exec has consultant working on market research.

When Patrick Adams decided to start his own bank he turned to California consultant Dan Hudson and his company, Bankmark, for help.

A soon-to-be-formed Dallas bank is looking to make an unusual entry into the market.

As technology progresses and becomes more readily available, bank management are faced with a difficult decision; accept the changing environment and implement the technology consumers have come to accept, or ignore it and risk losing your place in a competitive market.

When his small Dallas bank was sold to Houston's Sterling Bank last year, Patrick Adams never dreamed that the next step in his career would be to start a bank.

The high-profile failures of Enron and others led Congress to take drastic steps to mandate certain corporate governance practices, policies and codes for U.S. public companies.

Now that the dust has settled on 2002, it's clear that the small banks beat the big banks in terms of stock performance.

The process of opening a new bank is a complex one, involving strict regulations, extensive research, numerous contracts and documents, and time.

What is the first thing a new bank needs the day it opens? Customers.

Sooner or later, every community bank requires the assistance of an investment banker.

Financial stocks have taken their share of hits during the past year and a half. But the news from the financial sector hasn't been all glum.

The majority of good banking organizations are not for sale.

The Whither the Community Bank? conference will be held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago starting March 13, 2003 at 3:00 p.m. and ending on March 14, 2003 at 4:00 p.m..

In an economy now stymied by recession, a string of corporate failures and the September 11 attacks, banking firms across the United States are finding themselves at either end of the spectrum in terms of achieving and sustaining shareholder value.

This paper from the Wharton Financial Institutions Center explores how to incorporate banks? capital structure and risk-taking into models of production.

Choosing the core members of a de novo, organizing group is most critical, yet in practice many times defaults into a rather unfocused drill.

A big name says banking is a wonderful opportunity for those who want to revolutionize the industry.

Over the past five years, service problems at larger banks and copious mergers in the Northwest have caused a massive outflow of customers. But the larger banks are learning from their mistakes, and the opportunities for community banks to cash in are drying up.

We examine the financial performance of 1,664 commercial banks chartered between 1980 and 1985, a period of intense chartering activity just preceding the banking recession of the late 1980s.

A roundup of recent papers and articles on the de novo environment and trends.

After stagnating for many years, the rate of new bank formation has increased sharply in the second half of the 1990s.

In the wake of consolidation, many businesspeople are getting fed up with large, impersonal, unresponsive mega-banks. So they're starting their own.

Carmakers, departments stores and universities are taking advantage of deregulation to open their own Net-driven financial institutions.