I have viewed with some trepidation the various "fixes" to the mortgage foreclosure crisis espoused by different states, the judiciary, and Congress.

Continuing its in-store branching strategy, Citizens Community Bancorp Inc. of Eau Claire, Wis., is buying three branches in Wal-Mart Supercenter stores from American National Bank of Beaver Dam, Wis.

In the six years since H. McCall Wilson became the president and chief executive officer of Bank of Fayette County, his aggressive growth strategy has attracted some critics.

Summit Financial Group Inc.'s $13.9 million deal for the troubled Greater Atlantic Financial Corp. in Reston, Va., is off for now, but perhaps not for good.

Few banking companies are benefiting from investors' "flight to quality" as much as City Holding Co. in Charleston, W.Va.

State Bancorp Inc. of Jericho, N.Y., announced Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its leasing subsidiary to Main Street Bank in Kingwood, Tex.

MIDWEST

When consultant John Pattison was assigned the task of helping Northstar Financial Group Inc. identify Michigan banks to buy, his first call was to Capitol Bancorp Ltd.

Click here to view the top 150 community banks with the highest concentrations in first mortgages.

The pace of bank mergers and acquisitions has slowed considerably as the credit crisis has worsened, but even when deals are struck there is no guarantee they will get done.

Shares of Columbia Bancorp of The Dalles, Ore., fell nearly 12% Tuesday after the company said it would report first-quarter earnings significantly lower than expected, citing an increase in problem residential construction loans and continued margin compression.

United Bank of Philadelphia must strengthen its management, board oversight, and loan policies under a cease-and-desist order that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. disclosed Tuesday.

Peoples Community Bank in West Chester, Ohio, said it must curtail lending under one of two recently issued cease-and-desist orders from the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Federal regulators are eyeing Texas' new, one-of-a-kind system for reducing check fraud to see if institutions with national charters must comply.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., announced Monday that it expects to take a $21 million loan-loss provision for the first quarter that it is attributing largely to deteriorating credit quality on loans in the Indianapolis region made by a single lender who is now the subject of an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Willow Financial Bancorp Inc. in Wayne, Pa., said Monday that it must restate earnings for its previous two fiscal years.

CIB Marine Bancshares Inc. in Pewaukee, Wis., announced an agreement to sell the branches, deposits, and a portion of the loans of one of its subsidiary banks, the $125 million-asset Citrus Bank in Vero Beach, Fla., to 1st United Bancorp Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla.

Credit unions' opposition to a Treasury Department proposal to eliminate the National Credit Union Administration goes beyond their reluctance to share a regulator with banks and thrifts, their bitter rivals.