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Two New England thrifts have beefed up their commercial-lending operations by hiring teams of bankers from recently acquired banks.

First Place Financial Corp. said this week that it has launched an audit of its 2009 results and that it now operating under a cease-and-desist order from the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Driven by improved credit quality and double-digit increases in bank card and trust fees, Commerce Bancshares in Kansas City, Mo., reported a profit of $69 million in the second quarter, up 16% from the same period a year earlier.

Bank of Ozarks Inc. in Little Rock posted record earnings in the second quarter after acquisitions of two failed banks helped boost net income by more than 360%.

NBT Bancorp Inc. of Norwich, N.Y., is expanding into western Massachusetts with a deal to purchase four branches from Legacy Bancorp of Pittsfield, Mass.

Improved asset quality, lower credit costs and gains on investment securities powered Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle to a $30.1 million profit in the quarter that ended June 30, an increase of 138% over the same period in 2010.

VSB Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday that second-quarter earnings fell 7.5% largely because of lower yields on securities and loans during the period.

The Bank of South Carolina Corp. is on pace to beat its profit target for the full year thanks to strong second-quarter results, its president said Wednesday.

The $14 billion-asset Wintrust struck a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday for the assets and deposits of First Chicago Bank and Trust, its third FDIC transaction this year.

Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it has hired 75 small-business bankers in Texas and that it intends to add roughly 25 more in the state by the end of the first quarter.

Home Bancshares Inc. in Conway, Ark., has repaid the Treasury Department the $50 million it received in early 2009 from the Troubled Asset Relief program.

U.S. Bank is letting customers who have lost income due to the state of Minnesota government shutdown skip one monthly payment on most types of loans without penalty.

Union First Market Bank in Richmond, Va., announced Monday that it has opened seven branches inside Martin's Food Markets in central Virginia.

Centrix Bank in Bedford, N.H., intends to tap the government's billion Small Business Lending Fund to increase its commercial lending and repay what it borrowed from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Northeast Community Bancorp Inc. in White Plains, N.Y., is expanding its loan production office in Danvers, Mass., as part of a major push to increase its lending in eastern Massachusetts.

With the expansion, the $3.7 billion-asset Union First Market Bank now has 99 branches in Virginia, including 29 in Martin's stores.

The Tampa-based parent of Florida Bank issued 5,107 shares of series C preferred stock, grossing $1,000 a share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Castle Creek Capital, a California private-equity firm, has invested $27 million in fast-growing NBC Holding Co. in New Orleans.

The Federal Reserve Board has given the troubled Commonwealth Bankshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., until the end of July to either raise fresh capital or find a buyer.

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