The demise of the Dallas law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist has been a boon for the Richmond, Va., firm Hunton & Williams LLP.

MIDWEST

Coast Financial Holdings Inc. has lost more than half its market value in the last three months, and now it faces the prospect of a costly legal fight with angry shareholders.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., announced a $29.5 million deal Tuesday to buy the privately held Commerce Bank in Aurora, Colo.

An Illinois pilot program aimed at curbing predatory lending in low-income neighborhoods has been so unpopular with borrowers, consumer advocates, and lenders that state regulators have halted it and gone back to the drawing board.

Nearly a year after being forced out of the payday lending business, First Bank of Delaware has bowed to regulatory pressure and will stop making third-party consumer installment loans.

An unusual bidding war for a small Massachusetts thrift is escalating again.

TIB-The Independent Bankers Bank in Irving, Tex., has been offering its correspondent services to banks in California for five years but has missed out on one lucrative piece of business there: holding funds in escrow for banks in organization.

For all the convergence and consolidation in financial services, there is one kind of deal that so rarely gets mentioned even as a possibility that some may wonder if it is even an option: Can a bank or a thrift buy a credit union?

Columbia Banking System Inc. in Tacoma is inching closer to its goal of becoming a regional banking company.

Washington Banking Co. in Oak Harbor, Wash., announced Thursday that it has promoted John L. Wagner to president and chief executive officer of its banking subsidiary, Whidbey Island Bank. Its previous president and CEO, Michael D. Cann, retains those titles with the $792 million-asset holding company, focusing on strategic initiatives.

AmericanWest Bancorp in Spokane has dismissed its chief financial officer and promoted its chief operating officer to the position.

MIDWEST

UCBH Holdings Inc., which caters to Chinese-Americans, is about to become the first U.S. banking company to own a bank outright in China.

Some small banks are entering or remaining in the business of asset management, even though many competitors have abandoned it or turned to third-party outsourcers.

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. in Little Rock has abandoned its bid to establish a branch in Jacksonville, Ark., ending a more than two-year standoff with a community bank there.

More than ever, mutual thrifts are being targeted by depositors who try to force their conversions to publicly traded companies, industry insiders said.

The Dutch giant Rabobank Group is under pressure from a California consumer group to devote more resources to small-scale farming in the state.