A San Francisco private equity firm is making good on its pledge to invest in high-growth markets other than California by buying a large stake in a Texas start-up.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. of Nashville said Monday that it had canceled its two-for-one stock split, citing interpretive guidance of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123 indicating that the split would result in additional charges.

A month after announcing plans to cut 8% of its work force, Sun Bancorp Inc. in Vineland, N.J., said Monday that it will close or sell five of its 80 branches by yearend.

Community Bancorp in Las Vegas is expanding in Arizona by buying the $43 million-asset Cactus Commerce Bank in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale for $13.3 million in cash.

Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania Inc. in Narberth, Pa., said Monday it earned $4.6 million in the second quarter - which is either an 11% increase or a 37% drop from a year earlier, depending on whether nonrecurring items are excluded.

Like any other start-up, Summit Bank in Eugene, Ore., wanted to make a name for itself quickly.

Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., said Monday that strong loan growth powered a 36% increase in its second-quarter earnings, to $17.4 million.

Emprise Financial Corp. in Wichita said Monday that it had bought the $274 million-asset Prairie Capital Inc. in Augusta, Kan., for $25.9 million in cash.

Daniel Blanton, the president and chief executive of Georgia Bank and Trust Co., had a curious problem.

To reach its profit goals, Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Rosemont, Ill., said it needs to add about 80 core commercial customers this year.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco said its second-quarter earnings rose 21% from a year earlier, to $15.4 million, because of strong loan growth.

Chittenden Corp. of Burlington, Vt., said its second-quarter profits rose 7.6% from a year earlier, to $21 million.

As the president of Nationwide Financial Services Inc.'s new retail bank, Anne L. Arvia has no doubt what her biggest challenge will be: getting Nationwide's insurance customers to use its banking products and services.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc.'s chief executive said it has postponed its initial public offering of Ryan Beck & Co. Inc., because of the unit's poor second-quarter results and the lackluster demand for investment banking stocks in general.

More and more of City National Bank's business customers are doing business in China and have been asking the Los Angeles bank if it could provide banking services there.

A day after announcing a $116 million deal for Westbank Corp. in West Springfield, Mass., Peyton R. Patterson, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of NewAlliance Bancshares Inc., promised more to come.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston continued its steady march across Texas on Wednesday, announcing a deal to buy the $1.8 billion-asset Texas United Bancshares Inc. in La Grange for $357 million.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., said loan losses caused its second-quarter profits to drop 28% from a year earlier, to $11.2 million.

Amcore Financial Inc. said Tuesday that it expects to enter a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this quarter that will require it to strengthen Bank Secrecy Act and anti-laundering compliance.