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First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Miss., is buying seven Whitney National Bank branches in a deal that would more than double its branch network along the Gulf Coast and move it into a new market in Louisiana.

The $13.5 billion-asset company said this week that it will shutter nine branches in Arkansas, eight in Mississippi — including two in its headquarters city — three in Tennessee, and one each in Texas, Alabama and Missouri.

Patriot National Bancorp Inc. saw its losses widen in the first quarter, but asset quality improved substantially as the Stamford, Conn., company continued shed problem loans.

Two weeks after First Niagara Financial Group in Buffalo announced it is adding hundreds of jobs in western New York, the chief executive M&T Bank Corp. said his company expects to create 133 new jobs in Buffalo as a result of its acquisition of Wilmington Trust Corp. in Delaware.

Hit hard by defaults on construction loans, Old Second National Bank in Aurora, Ill., has agreed to an enforcement order with its regulator that requires it to boost a key capital ratio by the end of the third quarter.

First Place Financial Corp. in Warren, Ohio, is in danger of having its stock delisted for failing to file its last three quarterly financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bond Street Holdings Inc., the most active acquirer of failed banks in Florida, is looking to raise more money to buy even more banks.

Buoyed by a large private-equity investment and the acquisition of another Northeast Florida bank, Jacksonville Bancorp Inc. swung to a $439,000 profit in the first quarter from a $988,000 loss in the same period last year.

The stories of Bank of Hawaii Corp. and Central Pacific Financial Corp. tell you everything you need to know about the troubled past and hopeful signs for the future of banking in Hawaii.

The embattled Capitol Bancorp Ltd. eked out a small profit in the first quarter, thanks largely to a $16.9 million gain on the conversion of trust-preferred securities to common equity.

Continuing to be plagued by problem construction loans, Hampton Roads Bancshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., said after the markets closed on Monday that it lost $31.7 million in the quarter that ended March 31.

Two community banks have signed up for Secure Vault Payments, according to eWise Systems USA Inc., the Denver company working with Nacha, the electronic payments association, to offer the technology.

Hancock Holding of Gulfport, Miss., has won all federal approvals to acquire Whitney Holding in New Orleans, setting the stage for the deal to close on June 4 and create a $20 billion-asset company with more than 300 branches stretching from Florida to Texas.

Premier Financial Bancorp of Huntington, W.Va., has received regulatory approval to resume dividend payments on its investment from the Treasury Department.

Bay Commercial Bank in Walnut Creek, Calif., is moving into the Silicon Valley market with a deal to acquire the $66 million-asset Global Trust Bank for $15.3 million in cash and stock.

Bell Federal Credit Union and Midwest Partners Federal Credit Union, both in Sioux Falls, S.D., have agreed to merge, creating a $65 million-asset credit union serving 9,000 members.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday released information on written agreements with five banking companies.

Naugatuck Valley Financial Corp. in Connecticut has won permission from the Office of Thrift Supervision to convert from a mutual holding company to a 100% stock-owned company.

Northern Trust Corp. will remain the title sponsor of a top professional golf tournament in Los Angeles at least through 2016.

Aptys Solutions LLC has launched a tablet-based, paperless invoicing system called aMobile.