NEW ENGLAND

Ameriana Bancorp in New Castle, Ind., has resolved a long-running legal battle related to a pool of leases it acquired that turned out to be fraudulent.

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida's earnings, stock price, and credit quality have suffered during a statewide housing slump, but Dennis S. Hudson 3rd, its chairman and chief executive, says he is not rattled.

First Federal Bankshares Inc. of Sioux City, Iowa, has renamed its First Federal Bank subsidiary Vantus Bank.

Until a few weeks ago St. Martin Bank and Trust in St. Martinville, La., expected to use trust-preferred securities to finance its most recent buyout deal.

The federal government has taken over three financially troubled credit unions this year, and data shows two of them had violated regulatory limits on business lending.

Canandaigua National Corp. in Canandaigua, N.Y., has agreed to buy Genesee Valley Trust Co. in Pittsford, N.Y., for an undisclosed amount.

Texas Capital Bank in Dallas has started an initiative to lend to small businesses in low- and moderate-income areas.

SCBT Financial Corp. in Columbia, S.C., said Thursday that it has a deal that would give it entry into North Carolina.

Susquehanna Bancshares in Lititz, Pa., has expanded its potential borrowings from a Federal Home Loan bank by 67%, to $1 billion, simply by switching one of its bank charters to another state.

The average salary for chief executive officers at community banks rose 5.2% this year, to $213,000, according to the annual compensation and benefits survey America's Community Bankers released Wednesday.

MIDWEST

Over the last six years Central National Bank and Trust Co. in Enid, Okla., has reported steady growth in fee income, in part because of its marketing of gift, payroll, and remittance cards in communities where it operates.

St. Martin Bank and Trust in St. Martinville, La., said it has agreed to buy American Bank in Welsh, La., for about $15 million in cash.

Fredericksburg, Va., is about to lose its last two local banks, but two veterans of Mercantile Bankshares Corp. of Baltimore plan to fill the void.

Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles had cast its former chief executive officer as the bad guy in an accounting scandal there two years ago, but Benjamin Hong said he feels vindicated, now that an arbitration panel has ruled in his favor in a lawsuit the $2.2 billion-asset company filed against him.

Home BancShares Inc. in Conway, Ark., has a deal to acquire Centennial Bankshares Inc. in Kingsland for $25.6 million in cash and stock.