One of the nation's oldest mutual holding companies is planning a second-step conversion.

Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act became law in 2002, dozens of small publicly traded banks have gone private to rid themselves of the costs and compliance burdens of registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bank of Granite Corp. chairman John Forlines is retiring after more than a half century with the Granite Falls, N.C., company.

Flushing Financial Corp. of Lake Success, N.Y., has agreed to buy Atlantic Liberty Financial Corp. of Brooklyn for $41.9 million in cash and stock.

In its second deal in as many months, Marshall & Ilsley Corp. of Milwaukee has agreed to buy Trustcorp Financial Inc. of St. Louis for roughly $181 million in a cash-and-stock transaction.

Harvest Community Bank in Pennsville, N.J., plans to continue fighting Penn Bancshares' attempt to increase its 4.89% stake in the $141 million-asset Harvest to nearly 25%.

MIDWEST

The Greenlining Institute, best known for holding banks’ feet to the fire on issues such as mortgage lending to minorities, has recently taken up a new cause in California: turning minority farmworkers into farm owners.

Waccamaw Bankshares Inc. of Whiteville, N.C., said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it is buying the $20 million-asset Bank of Heath Springs in South Carolina for $8 million in cash.

Rurban Financial Corp. in Defiance, Ohio, announced late Monday that it had completed the sale of $8.4 million of troubled loans for 84.6% of their book value.

Banks trying to promote their brand these days - especially outside of their primary markets - might do so by buying the naming rights to a local sports stadium or convention center.

GB&T Bancshares Inc. in Gainesville, Ga., has a deal to acquire an Atlanta-area start-up that would become the multi-bank holding company's seventh subsidiary.

A New Jersey community banking company has received Federal Reserve permission to boost to nearly 25% its stake in a local rival - many of whose investors and customers told the Fed they oppose the plan.

A hurricane tax-relief bill the Senate passed before adjourning for its Christmas vacation contained a bank industry-supported provision to amend a year-old law on subchapter S corporations.

With some New Orleans banks struggling in the face of potential loan defaults and chargeoffs, a group of Louisiana bankers has applied to charter a new bank in the city.

Cathay General Bancorp Inc. of Los Angeles has received approval from the New York State Banking Department to acquire up to 100% of the shares of the $310 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York City.

TransCommunity Financial Corp. of Richmond, Va., said its chairman and chief executive, William C. Wiley, will leave when his two-year contract expires Dec. 31.

The $1.17 billion-asset Center Bancorp Inc. of Union, N.J., has joined the tide of community banking companies restructuring their balance sheets.

Rabobank Group's bold bid to buy one of the Farm Credit System's largest lenders collapsed more than a year ago, but regulators clearly have not forgotten about it.