Banking & Finance

When it comes to bank consolidation, Central Massachusetts has always bucked the trend. Twenty years ago, 37 of the nation's largest banks had morphed into just four institutions by 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Central Massachusetts was home to 39 banks, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Nearly two decades later, it's still home to 27.

North Brookfield Savings Bank announced Monday that it plans to merge with Ware-based FamilyFirst Bank.

Many of the region's locally operated banks have been growing and thriving over the past few years....

Life sciences and information technology companies may generate more buzz, but they still lag behind the financial services sector when it comes to economic impact in the Bay State, according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Boston consulting firm Mass Insight.

Commercial lending boundaries are beginning to crumble for several Central Massachusetts banks that are launching a virtual free-for-all to generate business that can cover a drop in residential real estate lending.

A Northborough company that provides lending services for people who buy mobile homes, will expand outside New England, establishing operations in Maryland, Delaware and New York. Chris Schofield, who founded Priority Funding in 2003, made the decision to grow to the south and west after maximizing the company's potential in New England. Schofield said Priority Funding has serviced about 3,500 loans for its clients, who provide financing on mobile homes built on leased land, and now he sees great potential to grow the business outside the region.

Acquisitions helped fuel a 17 percent increase in revenue at Berkshire Hills Bancorp, but a reduction in refinancing activity sent earnings per share plummeting more than 17 percent.

Lending to small businesses in Massachusetts from the federal government's most popular loan program rose 22 percent during the government's recently-completed fiscal year, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

As lending institutions work to stay on top in a market of record-low interest rates, plus the...

In an era of competition from national and international institutions, pricey technology and uncertainty about coming regulations, what's a small local bank to do? The obvious answer, chosen by large numbers of banks across the country over the past couple of decades, is to merge with, buy, or be bought by, a rival. In Massachusetts, though, the situation is a bit different. Bruce Spitzer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said 75 percent of the organization's members are mutually chartered banks. That means they can't be acquired by stock banks — which include big players like Bank of America — without going through a complex and lengthy conversion process.