First Federal Financial Services Inc. of Edwardsville, Ill., has agreed to buy Clover Leaf Financial Corp., also of Edwardsville, for at least $20.4 million in cash and stock.

Fidelity Bancshares Inc. of West Palm Beach, Fla., had no plans to expand into Fort Lauderdale this year - but when it learned that Wachovia Corp. would close a branch there, it saw an opportunity it could not pass up.

West Coast Bancorp of Lake Oswego, Ore., which has not made an acquisition in eight years, has agreed to buy the $99 million-asset Mid-Valley Bank of Woodburn, Ore., for $25.15 million in cash and stock.

Somerset Hills Bancorp of Bernardsville, N.J., recalled its fourth-quarter earnings report Friday, stating that its news release the day before had been "inadvertently premature."

Sky Financial Group Inc., which announced its latest deal Friday, aims to keep growing through acquisitions and organically, its chief executive says.

Matrix Bancorp Inc. is the second-largest bank or thrift holding company based in Colorado, but it is hardly a household name in its home state.

Gulf Coast banks, thrifts, and credit unions affected by the recent hurricanes may get a break from examiners, according to guidance issued Friday by state and federal agencies.

Amid skyrocketing fuel prices, Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., is offering low-cost loans to help low- and moderate-income people heat their homes more economically.

Colorado community bankers are cheering a new state regulation that will let them make more large loans and, they say, help them compete against big banks and small out-of-state rivals.

The roster of people who got their start working for Ben Love during his nearly two decades as chairman and chief executive officer of the old Texas Commerce Bancshares reads like a who's who in banking and politics.

An investment group has offered to buy FirstBank NW Corp. in Clarkston, Wash., for more than $112 million in cash.

WEST

The acquisitive Zions Bancorp. is trying something different in Oregon: a start-up bank.

First Financial Bancorp of Hamilton, Ohio, said Wednesday that it would take a fourth-quarter charge of 10 cents a share as it sells $200 million of investment securities to restructure its balance sheet.

Century Bancorp Inc. of Medford, Mass., announced Wednesday that it had terminated its management agreement with BlackRock Inc.

Hancock Holding Co., in Gulfport, Miss., said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings increased 21% from the same quarter in 2004, to $19 million, despite the $5.7 million of pretax expenses the company incurred during the quarter as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

State Bancorp Inc.'s share price plummeted more nearly 17% Tuesday, after a Long Island jury found the Jericho, N.Y., company liable for $44 million of damages in a 4-year-old fraud case.

For evidence that hostile bank deals face long odds, look no further than TrustCo Bank Corp NY in upstate New York.