Pax Holdings Inc. has called off its deal to buy the $39 million-asset Surety Bank in Fort Worth, according to a Securities Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday by the bank's parent company.

State National Bank in Fort Worth is asking a court to prohibit a rival from soliciting its customers in western Texas.

It is a good time to be a bank in Bozeman, Mont.

The $623 million-asset WGNB Corp. of Carrollton, Ga., said Monday that its second-quarter earnings rose 13% from the same quarter last year, to $2.3 million, on the strength of double-digit loan and deposit growth.

Independent Bank Corp. in Ionia, Mich., announced Monday that it would report a loan-loss provision of $13 million to $16 million for the second quarter.

Shinhan Financial Group, Korea's second-largest banking company, wants to bulk up in the United States through acquisitions, but it is not necessarily targeting Korean-American banks.

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. in Lititz, Pa., said Monday that it would take an $11.8 million second-quarter charge to restructure its investment portfolio.

Shinhan Financial Group, Korea's second-largest banking company, wants to bulk up in the United States through acquisitions, but it is not necessarily targeting Korean-American banks.

First National of Nebraska Inc. has agreed to acquire the $34 million-asset Mills County Bank of Glenwood, Iowa, the Omaha World-Herald reported Friday.

A North Carolina bank discriminated against borrowers based on their marital status, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.

A major natural gas find in central Arkansas promises to lift the economy of a largely rural area, and community banks are eager to set up shop there.

Omni Financial Services in Atlanta has purchased a Texas charter and is set to turn a Dallas loan production office into a full-service branch.

As the new president and chief executive officer of Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington, John A. Hall is in for a challenge.

First Financial Bankshares Inc. in Abilene, Tex., has changed the name of another one of its 10 subsidiaries.

MIDWEST

Gerald Ernst has resigned as the president and chief executive of Community Bank of Arizona in Glendale.

Vague rules and secretive lawsuits are leading some bankers to abandon government-guaranteed lending to farmers.

East West Bancorp Inc. has persuaded the Greenlining Institute to drop its protest of a pending acquisition by pledging $11.5 billion to community reinvestment activities over the next 10 years.

Olney Bancshares Inc. in Texas struck a deal Monday to acquire Union Bank of Oklahoma City for $76.9 million in cash from MB Financial Inc., an $8 billion-asset multibank holding company in Chicago.