Riggs National Corp. has made Tony Terracciano its chairman and Lawrence I. Hebert its president and chief executive officer.

For 10 years out-of-state banks have been able to enter Washington State without buying a bank there or applying for a commercial charter first - even though most come from more stand-offish states.

Bank merger action has been slower this year than last, but some analysts believe there is still room for consolidation in the thrift sector.

MIDWEST

Banks' campaign to abolish credit unions' tax exemption has not won many converts in Congress or the Bush administration, but it did get an unlikely boost last week from a nonprofit think tank.

Regulatory issues and profit uncertainty have pushed the stock of Hudson United Bancorp Inc. down more than 13% since a peak last November, but one analyst thinks the selloff may be near an end.

NewAlliance Bancshares Inc. in New Haven said Wednesday that it has a deal to buy a Hartford trust company for $19.3 million in cash and stock.

Mutual thrifts fear that an accounting change the Financial Accounting Standards Board is considering would make it next to impossible for them to merge with other mutuals.

The $4.5 billion-asset First Citizens Bancorp. Inc. of Columbia, S.C., has its third acquisition deal in its home state in recent months.

The "R" word, retirement, means big changes for top-level bankers. Some wonder why they didn't quit sooner. Others get a rude awakening.

Mackinac Financial Corp. of Manistique, Mich., said Monday that its North Country Bank and Trust has been renamed mBank.

The new slogan for South Carolina's Coastal Federal Bank, "The Carolinas' Most Convenient Bank," has a familiar ring to it.

Main Street Banks Inc. of Atlanta on Monday guided Wall Street estimates lower for first-quarter and full-year 2005 earnings, blaming a number of issues.

In Maryland, where bank robberies surged last year, lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose stiffer sentences on the perpetrators.

Since joining Integra Bank Corp. in Evansville, Ind., nearly six years ago, Michael T. Vea has spent nearly his entire tenure restructuring it.

Experts are urging small community banks to keep Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on their front burners even though the Securities and Exchange Commission has given them another year to comply with its provisions.

Add ASB Financial Corp. in Portsmouth, Ohio, to the list of small, publicly traded banking companies deciding to go private to escape Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements.

Gerard M. Banmiller generally scorns what he calls "relentlessly positive" ads that breathlessly hype convenience or service.