1st Security Bank of Washington, a troubled former credit union known until 2004 as Washington's CU, announced this afternoon it raised $32.4 million with an initial public offering, the latest credit union-convert to go public.

Deposits are worth buying if you get them at a good price and are making loans, says Stephen Gordon, the chairman and CEO of Opus Bank, which agreed this week to buy 10 branches from PacWest for a 2.5% premium.

Amalgamated Bank in New York is continuing its product line expansion with the addition of a home mortgage division.

Printing and marketing materials provider Taylor Corp. will enter the mortgage industry with its acquisition of servicing documentation provider Venture Encoding.

Taylor Capital Group (TAYC) in Chicago is registering 20.6 million shares of its stock to make it easier for certain shareholders to sell the securities.

HomeTrust Bank in Asheville, N.C., is set to raise up to $211.6 million as it converts to a stock-owned bank from a mutual thrift.

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State regulators this afternoon approved the merger of Massachusetts State Employees CU, a troubled one-time $77 million credit union in Boston, into giant Metro CU in adjacent Chelsea, Mass.

Matthew Wagner, the company's CEO, says a decision to sell 10 branches to Opus Bank will help the usually acquisitive PacWest cut costs.

The Treasury Department will auction off its stakes in a dozen more banks as it works to aggressively wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The pressure to merge is strong. But plenty of small banks are still viable, and rushing to do a deal could be just as risky as waiting.

Regulators became cautious about approving bank deals after the financial crisis, but now some buyers are getting approval to close their transactions more quickly.

PacWest Bancorp (PACW) in Los Angeles is experiencing life on the other side of the bargaining table after its bank agreed to sell 10 branches to Opus Bank.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Montgomery Bank & Trust in Ailey on Friday. Ameris Bank in Moultrie, Ga., agreed to assume all of the bank's $164.4 million in deposits.

RBC Capital Markets recently added two bankers to its financial institutions practice.

American Banker's Robert Barba on how Kansas has become fertile territory for bank deals and why more are in the works.

Henry Michaels and Jerry Wiant of RBC Capital Markets give their outlook for deals and pricing, discuss why taking stock can still be a good thing for sellers and advise bank buyers to manage investor expectations.

The U.S. island territory is on the verge of having only six banks left, but executives there welcome consolidation and appear more open to change than their mainland peers.

While nine of the largest, most complex U.S. banks largely followed the same template in filing their "living wills," there were subtle but significant differences in their approach.

Officials with St. Helens Community Federal Credit Union in Oregon and nearby Wauna Federal Credit Union said they plan to merge to create a credit union with about $300 million in assets.