Over the last five years branch networking has exploded. As more and more credit union branches are built, I've noticed one consistent flaw. Most credit unions are skipping the final, most critical step in opening a new or remodeled facility-educating their employees.

PADUCAH, Ky. - Credit unions searching for new members or a stronger community image might fare better looking to their past instead of advice from a high-powered design team.

Crescent Capital VI LLC, a Bellevue, Wash., private-equity firm, has offered to acquire the outstanding shares of the $490 million-asset Cowlitz Bancorp. in Longview it does not already own for $15 each.

A small Massachusetts thrift’s shareholders have approved a merger proposal that sparked three counteroffers, court action, and criticism over the price.

Add State Bank of Long Island to the growing roster of financial institutions going green.

Kevin Bell, an Illinois banker, is counting on a new state rebate program to steer hybrid car buyers — and government deposits — his way.

Old National Bancorp of Evansville, Ind., said Monday that its second-quarter earnings fell 3% from a year earlier, to $19.6 million. Related Links Complete 2Q 2007 Earnings Coverage

First Horizon National Corp. should expect no shortage of interest in the nearly three dozen retail branches in Dallas, Atlanta, and the Baltimore/Washington region that it plans to divest.

Cape Savings Bank would nearly double its size with its deal for Boardwalk Bancorp Inc., creating a company with more than $1 billion of assets and 20 branches in a growing market that includes Atlantic City.

The company that emerges from the planned merger of Virginia Financial Group Inc. and FNB Corp. would be the largest in the state, but its designated top executive has no intention of stopping the growth there.

Related Links Complete 2Q 2007 Earnings Coverage

Umpqua Bank is giving children all over the Pacific Northwest a taste of running their own business - and hoping to attract more entrepreneurs as customers in the process.

Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., has announced plans to enter Oregon with a $68.9 million deal for the $210 million-asset Bank of Salem.

FNB Corp. Christiansburg, Va., and Virginia Financial Group Inc. of Culpeper have announced plans to conduct a merger of equals to form a banking company with more than $3 billion of assets, making it the largest in Virginia.

Related Links Complete 2Q 2007 Earnings Coverage

Less than a year after he was brought in to "reinvent" Sun Bancorp Inc.'s retail bank, Jeffrey P. Hawkins has resigned.

The Office of Thrift Supervision has ordered the $34 million-asset Universal Savings Bank of Milwaukee to come up with a plan to sell itself and eliminate all deposits by July 31.

Two more Midwest thrift companies have announced plans to merge rather than try to slug it out alone in markets that are barely growing and where competition is already intense.

Proposed legislation that would allow all credit unions — regardless of charter type — to set up shop in low-income neighborhoods has rankled the banking industry.

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