WEST

Vernon W. Hill 2nd stops just shy of saying that his investment in a Philadelphia bank is the first step in trying to re-create Commerce Bank in Commerce's own backyard.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. of Lansing, Mich., announced Tuesday that it plans to offer $30 million of trust-preferred securities.

Summit Financial Group Inc. in Moorefield, W.Va., is once again planning to buy Greater Atlantic Financial Corp. in Reston, Va.

After nearly a century, Bank of Eureka Springs is outgrowing its name.

A provision tucked into this year's federal farm bill has given the banking industry a legislative victory sought ever since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita three years ago.

The billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn is one of several investors giving Guaranty Financial Group Inc. in Austin a large cash infusion.

Whitney Holding Corp. of New Orleans is buying banks in its home state again.

Large mergers and acquisitions often spawn start-ups in the affected markets, but few deals have produced as many as quickly as Regions Financial Corp.'s purchase of AmSouth Bancorp.

PrivateBancorp Inc. in Chicago has set a $34 per share price tag on a public offering and has raised the number of shares available to 4 million.

Whitney Holding Corp . in New Orleans said on Monday it reached a definitive agreement to acquire Parish National Corp. of Covington, La.

Regulators generally disapprove of a mutual thrift's selling itself within three years of converting to a public company, but the $10 million-asset Elk County Savings and Loan Association in Ridgway, Pa., aims to be one of the rare exceptions.

One of my mantras when speaking to banking groups about sales and service is, "Make a friend, make a customer."

It had been eight months since Washington Banking Co. in Oak Harbor had made a deal to sell itself to Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, but no closure was in sight.

First Arkansas Bancshares Inc. in Jacksonville has struck a deal to buy Greers Ferry Lake State Bank in Heber Springs, Ark.

MIDWEST

A Small Business Administration program that encourages lending to women, minorities, and veterans has become too popular for its own good.

Millennium Bankshares Corp. in Reston, Va., signed a regulatory enforcement agreement prohibiting it from paying cash dividends to shareholders without approval from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Silver State Bancorp raised $55 million of capital last July and used it quickly to bolster its residential construction lending in and around booming Las Vegas.