Paul Davis

CertusHoldings in Greenville, S.C., has agreed to sell its small business finance unit to BankUnited in Miami Lakes, Fla.

Veritex Holdings in Dallas has agreed to buy IBT Bancorp in Irving, Texas.

The company began to seriously consider its options when Bank of America agreed to sell nearly two dozen Michigan branches in early 2013. Chemical Financial eventually agreed to buy Lake Michigan for $184 million.

HomeTrust Bancshares created a special call center and encouraged tellers to invite ATM customers inside the branches to answer questions and to differentiate the company from Bank of America in terms of fees.

Sterling Bancorp in Montebello, N.Y., has acquired payroll funding firm Damian Services Corp.

WSFS Financial in Wilmington, Del., has agreed to buy Alliance Bancorp Inc. of Pennsylvania in Broomall.

Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill., has agreed to buy Community Financial Shares in Wheaton, Ill.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Square 1 Financial in Durham, N.C.

The $1.4 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that it will allow Richard Lashley, a co-founder of PL Capital, to join its board.

Regulators have shut Doral Bank, ending a tumultuous decade for the Puerto Rican bank. The $5.9 billion-asset Doral was the fourth bank to fail this year and the biggest bank to be closed since the $11 billion-asset Westernbank in Puerto Rico was shuttered in April 2010.

First National Community Bancorp in Dunmore, Pa., will pay $1.5 million to resolve issues tied to the Bank Secrecy Act.

Doral Financial suffered another setback as a Puerto Rican court ruled that the company is not entitled to a $230 million refund tied to overpaid taxes.

F&T Financial Services in Porterville, Calif., has agreed to buy Pan American Bank in Los Angeles.

OceanFirst Financial in Toms River, N.J., has agreed to buy Colonial American Bank in Middletown, N.J.

Doral Financial's future took another blow after the Puerto Rican company disclosed that its bank is now viewed by regulators as being "critically undercapitalized."

Community Bank System in Syracuse, N.Y., has agreed to buy Oneida Financial in Oneida, N.Y.

Docking Bancshares in Arkansas City, Kan., has agreed to buy RelianzBank in Wichita, Kan.

American Banker’s Index of Banking Activity hit a three-year low in January as falling oil prices and harsh winter weather tamped down borrowing.

Huntington had admired the finance firm for decades, but it was the Ohio company's Midwestern ties that helped it snag the unit from other suitors.

The founders of FBC Mortgage in Orlando, Fla., have agreed to take over the mortgage lender as part of Stifel Financial's purchase of Sterne Agee Group.