Texas

James Gardner, who co-founded investment firm Commerce Street Holdings in Dallas, died last week from congestive heart failure.

Bertha Garza, who has used her role at IBC Bank in Brownsville, Texas, to help spread financial literacy, was given American Banker's Community Impact Award, presented for the first time at our annual gala celebrating the industry's most powerful women.

OmniAmerican Bancorp (OABC) in Fort Worth, Texas, is exiting the business line that accounts for its largest single group of loans.

Southwest Bancorp is merging its banks in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas into one national charter under the new name Bank SNB.

Managing the royalties of oil and gas landowners could generate big new fee opportunities for well-positioned banks.

East West of Los Angeles hopes that buying MetroCorp in Houston will help its Chinese clients develop business ties in the Lone Star State.

East West Bancorp (EWBC) in Pasadena, Calif., has agreed to pay $273 million in stock and cash for MetroCorp Bancshares (MCBI) in Houston.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency shuttered the $3.1 billion-asset First National Bank in Edinburg, Texas, and it was sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in a deal estimated to cost $637 million to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

Dallas hedge fund Clover Partners is causing Texas-size headaches for two small Massachusetts thrifts, Hampden Bancorp and Chicopee Bancorp.

SP Bancorp in Plano, Texas, has applied for a state bank charter. The $300 million-asset company's SharePlus Bank is currently chartered as a federal thrift.

OmniAmerican Bancorp, the Texas lender whose stock has more than doubled since going public in 2010, is exploring a sale, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Prosperity Bancshares in Houston has agreed to buy F&M Bancorp in Tulsa, Okla.

Independent Bank Group (IBTX) in McKinney, Texas, has agreed to buy Live Oak Financial Corp. in Dallas.

Cullen/Frost Bankers, led by Dick Evans, is breaking into oil-rich west Texas with a deal for WNB Bancshares. The seller was attractive partly because it resembled Cullen/Frost, Evans says.

Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) in San Antonio has agreed to buy WNB Bancshares (WNB) in Odessa, Texas, for $220 million in stock and cash.

Matt Hildreth has been named Dallas chairman and chief executive for the $13 billion-asset Amegy Bank in Houston, Amegy said Monday.

Determined to stay independent, Allegiance Bancshares is looking for more deals like its recent one with Independence Bank so it can get big enough to go public. Other Texas banks could be attracted by the chance to join a soon-to-be public company.

Prosperity Bancshares is finding that its recent deals — which allowed the Houston company to expand in highly coveted businesses such as private banking and cards — are producing a nice boost to fee income.

The Federal Reserve Board has taken action against ABCT Holdings in Waco, Tex. and terminated regulatory orders with two Minnesota lenders.

Carlile Bancshares plans to merge and rename its two Colorado banking units.