New York

Shares of Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. have been removed from the Nasdaq exchange and are now trading over the counter.

NBT Bancorp Inc. in Norwich, N.Y., said late Wednesday that it will acquire Hampshire First Bank in Manchester, N.H.

NBT Bancorp Inc. in Norwich, N.Y., reported third-quarter net income of $15.2 million, up 4.4% from a year earlier, due largely to improved asset quality.

Deposit gains hurt third-quarter profits at big banks such as Wells Fargo & Co., but they led to record profits at Signature Bank in New York.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings that were weighed down by more than $16 million in costs from closing former Harleysville National Corp. branches in Pennsylvania.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. in Westbury, N.Y., on Wednesday reported that third-quarter earnings were virtually flat from a quarter earlier, at $119.8 million.

State regulators closed three banks along the East Coast and one in Illinois on Friday night, bringing this year's failure tally to 80.

Fast-growing Signature Bank in New York announced Thursday that it has opened a new office in Manhattan and recruited a team of bankers from HSBC USA to join one of its private-client banking offices in Queens.

MidSouth Bancorp Inc. in Lafayette, La., has agreed to buy a branch in Tyler, Texas, from Beacon Federal Bancorp Inc.

Investors Bancorp doesn't plan to stop with its deal for Brooklyn Federal. The Short Hills, N.J., mutual thrift would like to do "one or two more" before converting to an all-stock company.

Madison National Bancorp Inc. in Melville, N.Y., is giving an investment group an additional six months to complete its planned acquisition, but the seller is building in insurance.

Community banks in New York City are building loan books by snagging small to midsize companies overlooked by big retail-focused rivals.

Sterling Bancorp in New York reported strong loan and deposit growth in the second quarter, but profits were dampened somewhat by the cost of exiting the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Shares of Astoria Financial Corp. were down in heavy trading Thursday after the Lake Success, N.Y., company reported second-quarter earnings that fell well short of analysts' estimates.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in Buffalo said Tuesday that its second-quarter net income fell 32.3% from the same period last year, to $13.6 million, primarily on costs related to its $1.5 billion acquisition of NewAlliance Bancshares and other items.

Arrow Financial Corp. reported second-quarter profit of $5.8 million, a 2.4% increase over the same period last year.

NorthEast Community Bancorp Inc. is ready to make a gutsy move — an aggressive push into Boston that also involves originating its first single-family mortgages in roughly two decades.

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.

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

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.