Hot Regional Bank Companies To Invest In 2015

The banking sector usually moves in lockstep with the broader economy, and that is especially true for regional banks that focus on traditional banking operations. As the U.S. economy continues to grow, bank investors are hoping to see the demand for loans pick up as well.

In this video, Motley Fool banking analyst David Hanson discusses three regional banks that were climbing higher today and tells investors why the outlook remains bright for this segment of the banking world.

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Hot Regional Bank Companies To Invest In 2015: Barclays PLC(BCS)

Barclays PLC provides various financial products and services in Europe, the United States, Africa, and Asia. It offers retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services. The company?s products include current account and savings products, Woolwich branded mortgages, unsecured loans, protection products, general insurance, credit cards, Sharia-compliant products, installment finance and commercial property finance, commercial loans, and personal loans. It also offers money transmission, international and private banking, investment management, fiduciary, and brokerage services, as well as payment solutions and mobile banking services. In addition, the company provides fixed income, currency and commodities, foreign exchange, emerging markets, money markets, and credit services; equities, which include cash and equity derivatives and prime services; investment banking products and services that comprise fi nancial advisory, and equity and debt underwriting; and advisory services. It serves individual, commercial, corporate, institutional, retail, and mass affluent customers. The company was formerly known as Barclays Bank Limited and changed its name to Barclays PLC in January 1985. Barclays PLC was founded in 1896 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  UBS (NYSE: UBS  ) , Barclays (NYSE: BCS  ) , JPMorgan Chase's near-eponymous J.P. Morgan, Royal Bank of Canada's (NYSE: RY  ) Capital Markets arm, and the Securities wings of Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB  ) are the joint book-running managers of the issue.

Hot Regional Bank Companies To Invest In 2015: Franklin Resources Inc.(BEN)

Franklin Resources Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. The firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It manages, through its subsidiary, separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. The firm also launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds. It launches hedge funds and provides retirement plans to its clients through its subsidiaries. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe through its subsidiaries. Franklin Resources, Inc was founded in 1947 and is based in San Mateo, California with additional offices in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, Hong Kong, China, Melbourne, Australia, Sydney, Australia, Nassau, Bahamas, New York City, Paris, France, Rancho Cordova, California, and Toronto, Ontario.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Mike Deane]

  On Thursday, Franklin Resources (BEN) announced that it was declaring a quarterly dividend of 10 cents, a 2.6% cent increase from its previous quarterly payout.

  The San Mate0, CA-based investment management company previously paid a quarterly dividend of 9.75 cents, or 39 cents annually. The new dividend is payable on October 11th, 2013 to all shareholders of record on September 30th, 2013. The ex-dividend date is September 26th, 2013.

  BEN shares were down 10 cents, or .21%, at Thursday’s market close. The company’s stock is up over 11% YTD.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Who wants in on the action?
  All that said, plenty of mutual fund companies have seen the writing on the wall and are eager to come to market with active ETFs. Mutual fund giants Fidelity, Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN  ) , Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS  ) , and Legg Mason (NYSE: LM  ) are just some of the companies looking to follow in PIMCO's footsteps with active ETFs. Each of these companies owes a huge portion of its profits to management fees on the billions in assets that it holds, and each recognizes the need to defend its turf by reaching into the ETF space. For Legg Mason and Franklin Templeton, which already offer closed-end mutual funds that trade on exchanges, moving to ETFs is an even shorter step.

• [By Wallace Witkowski]

  While the big banks and financial firms have already reported earnings, Greenhaus noted this week will see the largest number of financial sector firms reporting than any other week. More than 20 S&P 500 financial sector companies report including several insurers such as Dow component Travelers Cos. (TRV) , a number of real-estate investment trusts such as Simon Properties Group Inc. (SPG) , capital markets firms such as Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) �and State Street Corp. (STT) , as well as exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) �

Top Asian Stocks To Watch Right Now: BB&T Corp (BBT)

BB&T Corporation (BB&T) is a financial holding company. BB&T conducts its business operations primarily through its commercial bank subsidiary, Branch Banking and Trust Company (Branch Bank), which has offices in North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Washington D.C and Indiana. In addition, BB&T�� operations consist of a federally chartered thrift institution, BB&T Financial, FSB (BB&T FSB), and a number of nonbank subsidiaries, which offer financial services products. BB&T�� operations are divided into six business segments: Community Banking, Residential Mortgage Banking, Dealer Financial Services, Specialized Lending, Insurance Services, and Financial Services. Branch Bank provides a range of banking and trust services for retail and commercial clients in its geographic markets, including small and mid-size businesses, public agencies, local Governments and individuals, through 1,779 offices as of December 31, 2011. During the year ended December 31, 2011, BB&T announced the acquisitions of Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, Atlantic Risk Management Corporation and the Precept Group. In April 2012, it acquired the life and property and casualty insurance operating divisions of Roseland, New Jersey - based Crump Group Inc. On July 31, 2012, it acquired BankAtlantic.

As of December 31, 2011, the principal operating subsidiaries of BB&T included Branch Banking and Trust Company, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; BB&T Financial, FSB, Columbus, Georgia; Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Clearview Correspondent Services, LLC, Richmond, Virginia; Regional Acceptance Corporation, Greenville, North Carolina; American Coastal Insurance Company, Davie, Florida, and Sterling Capital Management, LLC, Charlotte, North Carolina. Branch Bank�� principal operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance Corporation, BB&T Investment Services, Inc., BB&T Insurance Services, Inc., Stanley, Hunt, DuPree! & Rhine (a division of Branch Bank), Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, Inc., Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, LLC, Lendmark Financial Services, Inc., CRC Insurance Services, Inc. and McGriff, Seibels & Williams, Inc.

Community Banking

BB&T�� Community Banking serves individual and business clients by offering a range of loan and deposit products and other financial services. As of December 31, 2011, Community Banking had a network of 1,779 banking.

Residential Mortgage Banking

Residential Mortgage Banking segment retains and services mortgage loans originated by Community Banking, as well as those purchased from various correspondent originators. Mortgage loan products include fixed and adjustable rate Government and conventional loans for the purpose of constructing, purchasing or refinancing residential properties. Substantially all of the properties are owner occupied. BB&T retains the servicing rights to all loans sold. Residential Mortgage Banking earns interest on loans held in the warehouse and portfolio, fee income from the origination and servicing of mortgage loans and recognizes gains or losses from the sale of mortgage loans. BB&T�� mortgage originations totaled $23.7 billion in 2011. BB&T�� residential mortgage servicing portfolio, which includes both retained loans and loans serviced for third parties, totaled $91.6 billion in 2011.

Dealer Financial Services

Dealer Financial Services originates loans to consumers on a prime and nonprime basis for the purchase of automobiles. Such loans are originated on an indirect basis through approved franchised and independent automobile dealers throughout the BB&T market area and nationally through Regional Acceptance Corporation. This segment also originates loans for the purchase of boats and recreational vehicles originated through dealers in BB&T�� market area. In addition, financing and servicing to dealers for their inventories is provided through a ! joint rel! ationship between Dealer Financial Services and Community Banking.

Specialized Lending

BB&T�� Specialized Lending consists of eight business units that provide specialty finance products to consumers and businesses. The internal business units include Commercial Finance that contains commercial finance and mortgage warehouse lending; and, Governmental Finance that is responsible for tax-exempt Government finance. Operating subsidiaries include BB&T Equipment Finance which provides equipment leasing within BB&T�� banking footprint; Sheffield Financial, a division of FSB Financial, a dealer-based financer of equipment for both small businesses and consumers; Lendmark Financial Services, a direct consumer finance lending company; Prime Rate Premium Finance Corporation, which includes AFCO and CAFO, insurance premium finance business units that provide funding to businesses in the United States and Canada and to consumers in certain markets within BB&T�� banking footprint, and Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, a commercial mortgage banking lender providing loans on a national basis.

Insurance Services

BB&T Insurance Services provides property and casualty, life and health insurance to businesses and individuals. It also provides small business and corporate products, such as workers compensation and professional liability, as well as surety coverage and title insurance. In addition, Insurance Services also underwrites a limited amount of property and casualty coverage.

Financial Services

Financial Services provides personal trust administration, estate planning, investment counseling, wealth management, asset management, employee benefits services, corporate banking and corporate trust services to individuals, corporations, institutions, foundations and Government entities. Financial Services also offers clients investment alternatives, including discount brokerage services, equities, fixed-rate and variable-rate annuiti! es, mutua! l funds and governmental and municipal bonds through BB&T Investment Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Branch Bank. Financial Services includes Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, a brokerage and investment banking firm. Scott & Stringfellow provides services in retail brokerage, equity and debt underwriting, investment advice, corporate finance and equity research and facilitates the origination, trading and distribution of fixed-income securities and equity products in both the public and private capital markets. Scott & Stringfellow also has a public finance department that provides investment banking services, financial advisory services and municipal bond financing. Scott & Stringfellow�� investment banking and corporate and public finance areas conduct business as BB&T Capital Markets. This segment includes BB&T Capital Partners that is a group of BB&T-sponsored private equity and mezzanine investment funds that invest in privately owned middle-market operating companies. Financial Services also includes the Corporate Banking Division that originates and services corporate relationships, syndicated lending relationships and client derivatives.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Amanda Alix]

  How dangerous?
  Cyber attacks on websites, particularly the DDoS-type of disruption, first began in 2001. Back then, sites like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY  ) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO  ) were targeted, possibly in an attempt to disrupt e-commerce. Since then, groups like Izz ad-Din-as-Qassam or groups tied to the Iranian government have staged assaults on the websites of big banks like�Bank of America (NYSE: BAC  ) , Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC  ) , and Citgroup (NYSE: C  ) , as well as large regionals such as BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) and PNC Financial.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  BB&T (NYSE: BBT  ) is keeping its common stock dividend policy steady. The company has declared a quarterly distribution of $0.23 per share to be paid on June 3 to shareholders of record as of May 10. This amount matches that of the previous payout, which was distributed in February, but is 15% higher than the year-ago disbursement of $0.20 per share.

• [By John Maxfield]

  While it's not obvious from the chart, you can separate these institutions into three different buckets. The first bucket concerns the most widely discussed too-big-to-fail banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Then comes the unofficial too-big-to-fail lenders (those with assets in excess of $50 billion and thus subject to the Federal Reserve's more stringent stress test process). This group contains U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB  ) , PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC  ) , and BB&T Bank (NYSE: BBT  ) , among others. And the final group encompasses lesser-known banks like First Niagara Financial (NASDAQ: FNFG  ) and People's United Financial (NASDAQ: PBCT  ) with between $20 billion and $50 billion in assets.

Hot Regional Bank Companies To Invest In 2015: NextStage Inc (NXT)

NextStage, Inc. is a holding company. The Company is engaged in the management of its investments in shares of stocks of its subsidiaries. The Company�� subsidiaries include Mondex Philippines Inc. (MXP), Infinit-e Asia Inc. (Infinit-e Asia) and Technology Support Services, Inc. (TSSI). MXP operates a multi-application smart card system in Philippines. Infinit-e Asia is a software development company specializing on smart card and e-commerce solutions tailored to enhance the business of its clients. Infinit-e Asia develops smart card solutions for both real and online applications and on both contact and contactless platform. Infinit-e Asia�� spectrum of products and applications are classified as payments, data capture and security. TSSI is engaged in the business of business process outsourcing (BPO), applications service providers (ASP) and managed service providers (MSP). Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Namitha Jagadeesh]

  HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Europe�� largest bank, slid 2.1 percent. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) declined 2 percent as it canceled some of its flights following a disruption caused by one of its planes at Heathrow airport. Next Plc (NXT) retreated 2.4 percent as Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation on the shares.

Hot Regional Bank Companies To Invest In 2015: Wave Systems Corp.(WAVX)

Wave Systems Corp. develops, produces, and markets products for hardware-based digital security. Its products are based on the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a hardware security chip that enables secure protection of files and other digital secrets, and performs critical security functions. The company offers EMBedded Application Security SYstem (EMBASSY) Trust Suite, a set of applications and services that are designed to bring functionality and user value to TPM enabled products. The EMBASSY Trust Suite includes the EMBASSY Security Center, Trusted Drive Manager, Document Manager, Private Information Manager, and Key Transfer Manager. It also offers middleware and tools, which include Trusted Computing Group (TCG) enabled toolkit that assists application developers in writing new applications or modifying existing ones to function on TCG-compliant platforms; and Wave TCG-Enabled Cryptographic Service Provider, which allows software developers to utilize the security of a TCG standards-based platform. In addition, the company offers EMBASSY Trust Server Applications comprising EMBASSY Key Management Server, a server application designed to provide corporate-level backup and transition of the TPM keys; EMBASSY Authentication Server that offers centralized management, provisioning, and enforcement of multifactor domain access policies; and EMBASSY Remote Administration Server, which provides centralized management and auditing of TPMs and self-encrypting drives. Further, it offers eSign Transaction Management Suite and broadband media distribution services. Wave Systems Corp. sells its products to chip original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), PC OEMs, enterprise customers, and systems integrators. The company was formerly known as Cryptologics International, Inc. and changed its name to Wave Systems Corp. in January 1993. Wave Systems Corp. was founded in 1988 and is based in Lee, Massachusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  Looking for a quick trade? Don't put Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX) in your portfolio just yet, but do put WAVX on your watchlist. It's on the verge of becoming a breakout monster.