BB&T Corp. in Winston Salem, N.C., said Thursday that it had inked its third insurance deal in as many months with the acquisition of California employee-benefits consulting firm, Precept Group.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it will buy a $3.3 billion commercial real-estate portfolio from the failed Anglo Irish Bank Corp. as the San Francisco bank continues to grow its commercial real estate loans.

Community Bancorp LLC in Houston said Wednesday that it will change its name to Cadence Bancorp LLC next week.

The Johnson family, which also controls S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., pumped $235 million into Johnson Financial after efforts to bring in outside funds were unsuccessful.

Bank technology provider Fiserv has positioned itself for a wave of growth in electronic payments. It expects its recently purchased CashEdge and related business lines to balloon in the coming years.

United Recovery Systems Inc. (URS), a Houston-based accounts receivable management firm, has acquired Plaza Associates, a New York City-based collection agency, and A.C.B. American Inc. (ACB), a health care collections company located in Kentucky, M&A advisory firm Flock Advisors announced Wednesday.

BB&T Corp.'s unusual deal to extract the most valuable parts of BankAtlantic shows how inventive dealmakers can get a leg up on their rivals in the topsy-turvy merger market.

Alan Levan, the chairman and chief executive of BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc., stated earlier this year that he was energized over his company's future. Turns out that the future involves an exit from banking.

DCB Financial Corp. in Lewis Center, Ohio, said will hire an investment bank to help it explore ways to raise capital.

Wells Fargo is consolidating some of its wealth-management operations into a new unit, in an effort to get its hands on more of its clients' money.

Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles said late Monday that it completed a $63.3 million public offering of its common stock.

Sabal Financial Group L.P. in Newport Beach, Calif., has purchased $142.2 million of loans from Bank of the Cascades in Bend, Ore.

John Petrey, CIO of First Niagara, is handling a wave of Northeast and New England bank mergers. A consistent rip-and-replace strategy helps keep the IT conversions smooth and minimizes disruption.

Banks are looking to slash infrastructure that had been built for growth, but not all have bloat in their payrolls. In fact, compensation is now a smaller portion of revenue at companies like Capital One than it was before the recession.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., which last week raised $100 million to fund growth, has completed its acquisition of RMG Capital Corp., the parent company for Fullerton Community Bank.

Embattled BankAtlantic Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Fla, has given up its fight to remain independent. The thrift's parent, B.ankAtlantic Bancorp, announced early Tuesday that it has struck a deal to sell the $3.8 billion-asset unit to BB&T.

BB&T Corp. agreed to acquire struggling Florida lender BankAtlantic, part of BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc., in a deal that will expand its presence in SouthEast Florida.

In combining its ultra-high-net-worth units — Wells Fargo Family Wealth and Lowry Hill — under a new name, Wells Fargo & Co. may be balancing the consumer's post-2008 disdain for big financial-service brands with an aura of tradition and durability.

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Bankers have "pulled out all the stops" to help these major buyers of leveraged loans maneuver around new obstacles to deals.