The second quarter ended June 30 brought a major rise in the number of M&A transactions in the accounts receivable management (ARM) space compared with the first quarter, according to M&A advisory firm Greenberg Advisors. The second quarter also saw a jump in average transaction size.

Herbert Lurie, who led many of the mega bank mergers of the 1990s as head of the financial institutions advisory practice at Merrill Lynch & Co., recently joined Guggenheim Partners as that firm works to raise its profile on Wall Street.

NCR, a maker of automated teller machines, self-service kiosks and other financial technology, is buying hospitality software developer Radiant Systems for $1.2 billion.

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Rising regulatory costs are forcing banks of all shapes and sizes to take a hard look at consolidation, including the mostly dormant field of mutually owned banks.

Encore Capital Group, and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Midland Credit Management Inc. and Midland Funding LLC, disagree with the allegations made in the complaint filed by the Texas Attorney General.

The first three failures of the quarter — two in Colorado, one in Illinois — late Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $590 million and brought the year's toll to 51.

A Florida holding company formed three years ago to buy troubled banks has struck its third deal in the Tampa Bay area.

Two of Massachusetts' oldest thrifts, Salem Five Bank and Stoneham Savings Bank, are teaming up to create a $3.1 billion-asset company that would have nearly 30 branches in the suburbs north of Boston.

Directors at Nara Bancorp Inc. and Center Financial Corp. will have a few more months to deliberate over the planned merger of the two companies.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced Thursday that its insurance arm has acquired EDIFY LLC, an employee benefits consulting firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

First Community Corp. in Lexington, S.C., on Wednesday agreed to buy the assets of Palmetto South Mortgage Corp. of Columbia, S.C. The $607.3 million-asset company said it expects to complete the deal on July 31.

American National Bankshares Inc. completed its 34.7M acquisition of MidCarolina Financial Corp. Seperately, Wintrust Financial said it completed its purchase of Great Lakes Advisors Inc.

With M&I under its belt, Downe envisions the Canadian company buying more Midwestern banks, broadening its wealth management business and attracting more U.S. investors.

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Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will provide debt finance to a $1.97 billion buyout of the medical technology company Immucor by TPG Capital.

Bank of Montreal repaid more than $1.7 billion of bailout aid owed by Marshall & Ilsley when it completed its acquisition of the Milwaukee bank Tuesday.

Sandler O'Neill investment banker Emmett J. Daly shares his outlook on bank mergers in an interview with American Banker.

The Japanese-based parent of Union Bank in San Francisco has restructured its U.S. operations in order to improve its efficiency and help it better identify expansion opportunities here.

The Bank of Kentucky Corp. in Crestview Hills announced Friday a deal to acquire the operations of United Kentucky Bank of Pendleton County Inc.