Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. of West Chester, Ohio, has agreed to buy American State Corp., of Lawrenceburg, Ind., for about $7.7 million.

Center Bancorp Inc. of Union, N.J., is buying a 5-year-old Morristown, N.J., community bank for $26.3 million in cash and stock.

As he was about to begin a recent interview, Howard P. Milstein, a co-chairman and the president and chief executive officer of Emigrant Bancorp in New York, took a phone call.

Complaints by a growing number of banks about nonbanks’ unauthorized use of their names and logos in marketing materials have more states enacting stiffer penalties for such crimes.

With its first bank acquisition deal in more than a decade, the $1.3 billion-asset Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. of Pittsfield, Mass., is heading for bigger things, its chief executive and president says.

Now that the question of whether Hudson City Bancorp’s much-anticipated second-step conversion will take place has been answered, speculation has shifted to what the Paramus, N.J., company will do with all that money.

SCBT Financial Corp. of Columbia, S.C., announced Friday that it would buy the $94 million-asset New Commerce BanCorp of Greenville, S.C., for $20 million in cash.

Umpqua Holdings Corp. in Portland, Ore., has named Brian Timm, the chief financial officer of Columbia Sportswear Co., to its board of directors.

Banknorth Group Inc.'s largest shareholder, which had been hinting that it might vote against Toronto-Dominion Bank's offer to buy a 51% stake in Banknorth, is now throwing its support behind the offer.

Glacier Bancorp Inc. of Kalispell, Mont., has a deal to buy the $110 million-asset Citizens Community Bank in Pocatello, Idaho, for $17 million in cash and stock.

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. said Thursday that Robert J. Whelan had joined it as chief financial officer.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

National Credit Union Administration Chairman JoAnn Johnson defended her agency after a federal judge in Utah said last week that it had acted improperly in letting a credit union expand its community charter to six counties.

Illinois banks and credit unions, angry with the governor for raising examination fees last year to help balance the budget, are fighting back.

Many bankers spend time in their state capitals and in Washington lobbying legislators to pass laws supporting the banking industry.

Nice guys do not always finish last.

Encouraged by the success of its expansion into Phoenix, CoBiz Inc. of Denver aims to nearly double its assets, to $3 billion, by 2007 - with $1 billion in Arizona alone.

The America's Community Bankers Nasdaq Stock Index is up nearly 20% since its inception a year ago, while its market capitalization has increased 9%, to about $190 billion.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Old National Bancorp has been plagued by credit troubles and lackluster earnings for two years, but its new president and chief executive insists he has not stepped into a turnaround situation.