John Reosti

Deposits continue to slowly trickle out of the banking system, creating divided opinions over how much bankers should fret over the outflows.

East West of Los Angeles hopes that buying MetroCorp in Houston will help its Chinese clients develop business ties in the Lone Star State.

East West Bancorp (EWBC) in Pasadena, Calif., has agreed to pay $273 million in stock and cash for MetroCorp Bancshares (MCBI) in Houston.

Simplicity Bancorp's experience with mortgage servicing could give banks a reason to reconsider plans to ditch the business despite concerns about new regulations.

Old National is trying to shed assets ahead of an acquisition in hopes of staying below $10 billion in assets, a level that ensures increased regulation.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...New EU Regulator: Over strong German objections, the European Union went ahead Thursday with plans to create supranational agency empowered to regulate the continent's banking industry and shutter failing banks the New York Times reported. Approval of the so-called single bank resolution system represents a huge step on the road to a European banking union. Creation of such a powerful agency was important enough that it should have required changes to the European Union treaty, German Chancellor Angel Merkel argued. Germany and other critics of single bank resolution pointed out taxpayers across the continent would bear the financial burden of shutting down individual banks. They also wanted to retain as much national control over their banks as possible, but their position was weakened by a legal opinion that concluded the EU already possessed the authority to implement single bank resolution. The Financial Times obtained a copy of the confidential document. New York Times, Financial Times

Dallas hedge fund Clover Partners is causing Texas-size headaches for two small Massachusetts thrifts, Hampden Bancorp and Chicopee Bancorp.

Frank and George Hamlin at Canandaigua National are turning letter writing into an art form as they rail against a wave of new bank regulation.

Banks and credit unions are normally clash with each other, but pumping free gasoline for consumers while bashing big banks was a public-relations opportunity both sides found hard to resist.

The thought of leaving their century-old headquarters didn't appeal to execs at MidWestOne, but neither did a makeover during the height of the recession. They're finally free to give their office space some overdue updates.

The acquisitive Prosperity Bancshares in Houston is set to slow its growth following a deal for Tulsa's F&M.

The company, which lost millions of dollars after straying from core banking, has returned to its roots as a traditional banking around Philadelphia.

FNBH desperately needs capital after regulators shot down a plan that had a hefty percentage of debt. The company is hoping an equity infusion by a big investor will help it get on track.

The combination of Mercantile and Firstbank is expected to break the bank M&A logjam in Michigan. The combined company will be on the lookout for more deals, executives say.

CommunityOne in Asheboro, N.C., went from the brink of failure to a model of recovery in a few years. But it took new management, private-equity money, an acquisition and an accounting ace in the hole to get it done.

Prosperity Bancshares is finding that its recent deals — which allowed the Houston company to expand in highly coveted businesses such as private banking and cards — are producing a nice boost to fee income.

Naugatuck Valley Financial in Connecticut is attempting the same transition that scores of other banks have completed in the last year, purging past mistakes in an effort to concentrate more on expansion.