CertusBank in Greenville, S.C. said Wednesday that it agreed to buy $96 million of performing loans and $211 million of deposits from First Guaranty Bank Corp.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says the Internal Revenue Service made a mistake related to $253 million in disputed tax refunds that are at the center of a legal fight between the bank regulator and the bankruptcy estate of Colonial BancGroup Inc.

Carve-outs are giving rise a good bank/bad bank acquisition model.

Western Liberty Bancorp Inc. in Las Vegas reported a third-quarter loss of $6.9 million, u 50% from the second quarter, due largely to a noncash goodwill impairment charge.

The U.S. unit of PricewaterhouseCoopers late Tuesday said it has hired Lisa Pavelka McAlister to manage the firm's services to private equity and alternative investment companies.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp., accused by state and federal officials of defrauding public pension funds on foreign-exchange trades, is offering some of those customers a new pricing model.

Backed by private equity money, ex-execs of megabanks are taking over banks like FNB United in North Carolina. Their plans are ambitious, but skeptics question whether they know how to run community institutions.

Led by Citigroup Inc., insurance units of bank holding companies generated a record $7.9 billion in fees during the first half of this year, up 14% from the same period in 2010.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson says Square "is an incredible technology that inspires and empowers everyone to be an entrepreneur."

IMGCAP(1)]

The deal between Sterling Financial and First Independent, both of Washington state, relies on a complex carve-out from a bank holding company. Creative maneuvers are needed these days, but this model isn't for everyone.

Southern Missouri charges ahead with a stock offering, while South Valley of Oregon pulls back an IPO. The divergent decisions say everything about the tough calls that small banks face in dealing with volatile stock markets.

Nara Bancorp Inc. and Center Financial Corp. said on Monday that they had cleared their last regulatory hurdle for their planned merger after they received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Spokane, Wash., bank added a chapter to its comeback story Monday in agreeing to buy the banking operations of an instate rival.

Bank of America, which has been divesting itself of assets in recent months, agreed to sell its stake in the largest Pizza Hut Franchisee to private-equity firm Olympus Partners.

South Valley Bancorp Inc. in Klamath Falls, Ore., has withdrawn its plan to go public, stating in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that "current market conditions make proceeding with this offering unattractive."

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plays a far more active role in the last days of banks than it cares to let on, explains Washington correspondent Joe Adler.

A Utah bank linked to an alleged Internet payment scam and an online gambling case was seized by the state late Friday, on a night when regulators also closed a bank in Nebraska.

ICB Financial in California paid the FDIC $500,000 for a waiver against any cross-guarantee liability from the failure of Progress Bank of Florida.

Kentucky First Federal Bancorp in Hazard, Ky., has is acquiring CKF Bancorp Inc. in Danville, Ky., in a deal that would expand its branch network into two new markets in its home state.