FirstAtlantic Bank said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy CenterBank in a deal that will combine two Jacksonville, Fla., banks.

Security Savings Bank in Southport, N.C., said that it has hired an Atlanta firm to help it explore strategic option, including a possible sale.

Jim Grant discusses public policy and industry consolidation.

Credit Suisse is expected to cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs, a Swiss paper reported, without naming sources. The official announcement is expected yet this week, when Credit Suisse posts its next quarterly results, according to The Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ).

Royal Bank of Canada may spend as much as C$1 billion ($1.06 billion) to buy asset managers outside Canada as the country’s largest lender seeks to triple profit from wealth management in the next four years.

After striking two deals around Kansas City, Mo., last year, Laney, the Boston-based president and chief executive of NBH Holdings Corp., has moved on to Colorado, buying the $1 billion-asset Bank of Choice in Greeley on Friday in a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in Troy, Mich. is exiting the Atlanta market to focus on its core banking business in the Midwest and problems and its expansion into the Northeast.

Although they could in time reap benefits from the many back technology vendor mergers planned, banks may wait to make major IT spending decisions while the deals sort themselves out.

Warburg Pincus, one of the oldest and best-known private-equity players, has arrived at a strategy that experts say might offer a blueprint for the next phase of private-equity investing in banks.

BancorpSouth shares jumped sharply a day after the company reported an impressive financial turnaround, reporting earnings of $12.8 million for the second quarter.

Chapter 11 trustee Herbert Stettin on Monday filed the lawsuit against TD Bank in the bankruptcy case of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA.

In what would be its first open-bank acquisition in five years, Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Elgin State Bancorp Inc. in Elgin, Ill., for $13.8 million in cash and stock.

Royal Bank of Canada may spend as much as $1.06 billion to buy asset managers outside Canada as the country's largest lender seeks to triple profit from wealth management in the next four years.

Regions Financial Corp. swung to a surprise second-quarter profit, its third in a row, as the lender benefited again from shrinking loan-loss provisions and improved credit quality.

The transaction, which is expected to close Oct. 1, will combine Stone & Youngberg's institutional group with Stifel's public finance and bond underwriting expertise.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. are in rare company as small banks with top shares in major cities.

These five banks are making deals work in the down economy, but they are tough acts to follow.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s directors plan to discuss at a meeting Tuesday the possibility of trying to acquire rival online-brokerage firm E*Trade Financial Corp., according to people familiar with the situation.

LONDON — Lloyds Banking Group PLC Monday said it has received "six credible proposals" for its retail branch network but is also considering an initial public offering.

Summit Account Resolution, a national medical collection agency based in Champlin, Minn., has acquired the assets of AKA Financial, a Minnesota-based health care collector that specials in mid-size hospitals and small medical practices. Terms of the deal were not released.