Writer: Tom Bengtson

Dorothy Bridges is leaving Franklin Bank of Minneapolis before the end of the year. [Continue]

We live in a world where thoughtless people share the intimate details of their lives in cell phone conversations loud enough for anyone within earshot to hear. Newspapers publish peoples’ salaries, and young women and men commonly walk around with their underwear showing. Let’s face it: this is an era where discretion has basically been … Read more

The Financial Services Roundtable kicked off its seventh annual community service celebration on July 1 in Maplewood, Minn., at Junior Achievement’s “BizTown.” [Continue]

Continued stress in the housing market combined with general weakness in the overall economy contributed to an increase in the delinquency rates for home equity lines of credit and bank cards during the first quarter of 2008. [Continue]

Faegre & Benson, one of the nation’s largest law firms, has combined expertise from its securities practice and financial services practice to form a new specialty group called the Financial Services Litigation Team. [Continue]

Shari Weber, the president and CEO of the Community Bankers Association of Kansas, has filed to run for state senate. [Continue]

We are pleased to conclude our Rising Star honorees for 2008 with the presentation of four additional outstanding young bankers in this edition. In the June 15-30 edition, we featured bankers from North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa; in this edition, you will find features on selections from Indiana, Illinois, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Since … Read more

Are we in recession? Yes and no. [Continue]

Because of a special arrangement the FDIC made with a Wall Street Journal reporter, and because of the unusual candor of a bank president, much more information is available about the closing of First Integrity Bank, N.A., in Staples, Minn., than is typically available when regulators close a bank. [Continue]

The Minnesota Bankers Association concluded a four-year effort to identify a new headquarters by purchasing a 16,000-square-foot office building in Bloomington on June 6. [Continue]