Tough economy, regulations dampen interest in the positions.

Fifth Third among them, after being hit with class action over whether to pay customers' biggest bills first.

Fifth Third Bank executive Kevin Hipskind's experience as a patient in the burn unit of Wishard Hospital played a role in a $5 million gift the Cincinnati-based bank is making for Wishard’s new Eskenazi Hospital, under construction at IUPUI.

Maurice Spagnoletti, a former president and CEO of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp's central Indiana operations, was gunned down on Wednesday. He had been an executive of Doral Bank in Puerto Rico for about six months.

Improved economy, loosening credit standards are driving increased lending.

Chase and Fifth Third of Indiana saw 57-percent and 56-percent spikes, respectively, in loans to state businesses last year. They forecast similar growth this year.

Developer Puller Group has agreed to relinquish a high-profile property approved for a massive water park and retail project to lender Fifth Third Bank following a months-long legal battle over an $8.6 million loan.

Singed by the downturn, banks are winnowing real estate portfolios.

A high-profile piece of land in Fishers that is part of a proposed hotel and water park project has been bought by the bank that foreclosed upon it.

Last week’s front-page story “Shuffling the deck” pointed out the significant gains midsize banks have made in the Indianapolis market over the last year. The one glaring exception was Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington National Bank, which had lost $56.3 million in local deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC. A closer look explains why.

One of the toughest runs for the finance industry since the Great Depression didn’t lead to a major shakeup in Indianapolis’ banking landscape. Substitute PNC’s brand for National City’s, and the top eight positions remain unchanged.

The developer of the proposed $80 million project is facing foreclosure on the property at the same time adjoining land critical to the project's development has been scheduled for liquidation by a lender.

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank yesterday named Nancy Huber president and CEO of its central Indiana operations in Indianapolis.

Real estate holdings of the nonbank-branch variety are growing fast on bank balance sheets.