Coast Financial Holdings Inc. of Bradenton, Fla., plans to open four branches soon in a neighboring county.

Wainwright Bank and Trust Co. is well known around Boston as one of the city's more progressive banks, but it has little name recognition elsewhere.

WASHINGTON — Critics of the legislative process say laws that pass without meaningful opposition are often the ones that spawn troublesome unintended consequences. Community bankers offer the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as an example.

Independence Federal Savings Bank of Washington has terminated a shareholders rights plan that had effectively blocked its largest stockholder, Morton Bender, from acquiring more shares.

Greater Bay Bancorp of Palo Alto, Calif., said Friday that it had received a "request for information" from the Texas Department of Insurance about the business its insurance brokerage subsidiary does in the state.

Though most banking companies are sorry to lose any customer, they work a little harder to keep big-dollar accounts; some maintain special call centers for these depositors, for example, and an officer is quick to call if they seem dissatisfied.

Having written for American Banker for 45 years now, I visited the New-York Historical Society’s new exhibit on Alexander Hamilton with special excitement.

Putting teenagers in charge of a bank branch may not be every banker’s idea of safety and soundness, but one bank in Chicago plans to give it a try.

A small Minnesota thrift company’s plan to delist its stock and take itself private has suddenly left it fighting for its independence.

Call it the requiem for a subsidy.

Western Sierra Bancorp of Cameron, Calif., has agreed to pay $23.1 million in cash and stock for Gold Country Bank in Marysville.

A popular game among bankers and analysts in the merger-happy Southeast is guessing which community bank will be the next to sell, and one name that comes up repeatedly is First Charter Corp. in Charlotte.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. has cut its 2004 earnings estimate in half because it has decided to prepay $195 million of Federal Home Loan Bank borrowings.

D. Ben Berry says his company's regulatory obligations are getting so heavy that it is considering having customers absorb some of the expense.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans and the Small Business Administration are floating a compromise reauthorization bill that would eliminate once and for all the congressional credit subsidy for the agency's flagship 7(a) program.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. will continue expanding outside its core Wisconsin market next year by building branches rather than pursuing bank deals, according to Dennis J. Kuester, its president and chief executive.

Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington said Thursday that it lost $1.24 million in the third quarter and $2.5 million in the first nine months of the year.

MIDWEST

Argentine police are investigating three bomb explosions at branches of Citigroup Inc. and Grupo Financiero Galicia SA in Buenos Aires that killed one person.