Armbusinessbank of Armenia entered the list of 100 most rapidly growing CIS banks, the assets of which exceed $100mln.

Banner Bank has unveiled a mobile banking enhancement for their online banking customers. Customers will now be able to use their cell phones and smartphones when they're on-the-go to check account balances, pay bills, transfer money, and receive alerts with the launch of this secure mobile banking service.

USA Today has an article on how the six monks of the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank have turned LaserMonks into a $4.5 Million office supply giant.

The Wachovia board ousted CEO Kennedy Thompson, blaming him for write-downs that have cost the company half its market value over the last year. Thompson was the lead architect on the purchase of World Savings (a/k/a Golden West) which was a leading Option ARM lender in California right at the peak of the housing bubble. When that deal went down any sane person had to wonder what was he thinking. From Bloomberg on Thompson’s removal:

The Financial Times reported this morning that international regulators are contemplating increasing capital requirements for banks on their complex debt instruments in order to discourage the “warehousing” of repackaged assets.

Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, announced today that it has launched a new and innovative Trust Network for its introducing broker-dealer and independent registered investment advisor (RIA) customers. Trust Network is an open architecture platform that enables Pershing's customers to offer their clients a wide range of trust services and solutions from industry-recognized trust companies.

Bank of America today announced that it is creating a new consumer banking management structure to enable the company to more effectively tap the growth potential in key product segments.

G. William Beale, President and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq: UBSH) announced that its affiliate Bay Community Bank will merge into its largest bank affiliate, Union Bank and Trust Company. The projected completion date of the merger is October 31, 2008.

In order to better serve the greater Lexington metropolitan area, Farmers Capital Bank Corporation (Nasdaq: FFKT) announced that it is in the preliminary stage of merging three of its subsidiary bank charters. The Company will seek formal approval for the merger by the appropriate regulatory agencies during the third quarter of 2008, with the closing of the merger to take effect in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Earlier we had reported that Armenia makes serious steps in becoming a financial center by attracting investments in its banking sector aiming to become a financial mediator between the Middle East and Europe. Now Armenia makes another step by strengthening it's tiles with the central bank of Iran attracting more Iranian financial capital to Armenia's banking center.

Arizona State Credit Union is a proud finalist of the 2008 Better Business Bureau (BBB) Business Ethics Award, sponsored by the BBB of Central, Northern, and Western Arizona. The Business Ethics Awards recognizes companies for their commitment to ethical business practices in today’s marketplace

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, today announced that First Financial Bancorp, an Ohio-based corporation that is the parent company of one of the oldest banks in the United States, has dramatically improved the performance and availability of critical business and client data with EMC information storage, software and services.