Investor's stake in the future of Bank of America shows a boldness that banks now lack.

First Niagara Financial is expected to divest roughly a quarter of the 195 branches it's buying from HSBC. Industry observers have identified at least five community banks that may make bids.

In striking its deal for First Louisiana National Bank, MidSouth Bancorp Inc. structured the deal to include a set number of shares, rather than allow the deal to be at the whim of the stock market.

The Federal Reserve Board's decision to hold public hearings and extend the comment period on Capital One Financial Corp.'s planned acquisition of ING Direct has drawn the ire of House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Chief Executive Dick Evans says he's "not interested" in making acquisitions outside of Texas, and derides mounting competitive threats from community bank rivals by comparing them to the "juvenile delinquents down the street."

Computer Services Inc. said Thursday that it completed its acquisition of Heit. It did not disclose the price of the deal, which it announced Aug. 10.

Some Canadians questioned whether TD's cross-border acquisitions would prove worthwhile, but its U.S. operations outperformed domestic ones in numerous ways.

The Capital One acquisition of ING Direct USA is, as far as we know, the first time size alone has been made an M&A approval criterion for the Federal Reserve.

When the policy-setting committee of the Federal Reserve forecasts the long continuation of a low-rate environment, the act of taking on additional interest-rate risk suddenly looks a lot less threatening. But banks that look at the FOMC's stance and feel emboldened to take on more interest-rate exposure than they already have may wind up finding their regulators once again sniffing around their securities portfolios for signs of trouble.

PNC's Jim Rohr staked his legacy on the 2008 purchase of National City. Now PNC has a deal to buy RBC Bank USA. Wall Street says getting scale in the southern states will require another big play. Rohr, however, has other things in mind.

With trouble spots lacking potential acquirers, M&A activity in most markets is slow.

This acquisition expands IBM's business analytics capabilities in the financial services industry.

United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio, said late Wednesday that it would sell four branches in the western part of the state to a unit of Croghan Bancshares Inc.

Look closely at the structure of the First PacTrust deal for Beach Business Bank to see how deal negotiators are hedging against stock volatility. Expect to see more creative pacts like this one.

First PacTrust said it wants Beach Business Bank for it commercial loans after just announcing a deal for a mortgage operation.

After months of rumors, Bank of America made it official Wednesday morning, saying it would exit the correspondent mortgage space, where it ranks second nationwide.

Swope Montgomery, the longtime CEO of BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., details his growth strategies, cautions on deals and the risks and rewards of private equity.

A $9.07 a share, Beach Business Bank's comes at a 53% premium to the Manhattan Beach, Calif., seller's closing price.

The bank technology vendor S1's board told shareholders not to accept ACI Worldwide's exchange offer — yet. The board said Wednesday that it is reviewing ACI's Tuesday offer to shareholders in ACI's latest step to disrupt S1's planned merger with Fundtech.

Mortgage Banking Solutions of Woodway, Texas, says it is working on four merger-related deals with announcements on two of them coming shortly.