After sitting on the sidelines for nearly four years, NBT Bancorp Inc. of Norwich, N.Y., has found a deal that it hopes is a perfect fit.

Two professional investors who have amassed large stakes of Century Bancorp Inc. in the past six months are pressuring the Medford, Mass., company to sell.

People's Bank of Bridgeport, Conn., is selling three branches to the much smaller Putnam Savings Bank in Putnam, Conn.

When Congress last year was debating a regulatory-relief bill for financial services firms, many community bankers felt there was not much in it for them.

Credit union advocates said Monday that 46 House members have agreed to co-sponsor the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act of 2005, which Reps. Edward R. Royce, R-Calif., and Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Pa., introduced last month.

Ronald Grzywinski, the chairman and chief executive of ShoreBank Corp. of Chicago, is the 2005 winner of the John W. Gardner Leadership Award.

Citizens Bancshares Corp. of Atlanta announced Monday that Willard "Chuck" Lewis, its chief operating officer, had resigned to become the chief executive officer at a new Atlanta bank.

Cardinal Financial Corp. of Tysons Corner, Va., has completed its purchase of Wilson/Bennett Capital Management Inc. in Alexandria.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez says she has corralled nearly all the Republican votes she needs to restore a congressionally appropriated subsidy that had been eliminated last year from the Small Business Administration's budget.

Millennium Bankshares Corp. in Reston, Va., is buying the $125 million-asset Albemarle First Bank of Charlottesville for $29 million.

First Community Bancorp of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is buying the $146 million-asset Pacific Liberty Bank in Huntington Beach, Calif., for $41.8 million.

BankWest in Castle Rock, Colo., did not grow much in its first five years, and investors were getting restless.

A small Utah bank is in the process of becoming the first established bank to convert to a limited liability company, but whether it will get the tax benefits that accompany that status remains to be seen.

Financial Institutions Inc. of Warsaw, N.Y., said it would halve its second-quarter dividend, to 8 cents a share.

MetroCorp Bancshares Inc. of Houston said Wednesday that it is buying a two-branch Asian-American bank in San Diego for $37.4 million in cash.

Main Street Banks Inc. said Wednesday that it would charge off $2.6 million of problem loans this quarter, resulting in a 30% to 36% drop in its projected second-quarter earnings per share.

Gold Banc Corp. of Leawood, Kan., announced that a lawsuit accusing it of charging too much for agricultural loans has been made a class action by a court order.

MIDWEST

Monarch Bank of Chesapeake, Va., has raised $6.5 million in a stock offering and said it would use the proceeds to open a new branch and raise its legal lending limit.

First Charter Corp. of Charlotte announced Tuesday that it will soon open its first full-service branch in Raleigh.