Daniel Blanton, the president and chief executive of Georgia Bank and Trust Co., had a curious problem.

To reach its profit goals, Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Rosemont, Ill., said it needs to add about 80 core commercial customers this year.

First Republic Bank in San Francisco said its second-quarter earnings rose 21% from a year earlier, to $15.4 million, because of strong loan growth.

Chittenden Corp. of Burlington, Vt., said its second-quarter profits rose 7.6% from a year earlier, to $21 million.

As the president of Nationwide Financial Services Inc.'s new retail bank, Anne L. Arvia has no doubt what her biggest challenge will be: getting Nationwide's insurance customers to use its banking products and services.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc.'s chief executive said it has postponed its initial public offering of Ryan Beck & Co. Inc., because of the unit's poor second-quarter results and the lackluster demand for investment banking stocks in general.

More and more of City National Bank's business customers are doing business in China and have been asking the Los Angeles bank if it could provide banking services there.

A day after announcing a $116 million deal for Westbank Corp. in West Springfield, Mass., Peyton R. Patterson, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of NewAlliance Bancshares Inc., promised more to come.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston continued its steady march across Texas on Wednesday, announcing a deal to buy the $1.8 billion-asset Texas United Bancshares Inc. in La Grange for $357 million.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., said loan losses caused its second-quarter profits to drop 28% from a year earlier, to $11.2 million.

Amcore Financial Inc. said Tuesday that it expects to enter a consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this quarter that will require it to strengthen Bank Secrecy Act and anti-laundering compliance.

Coast Financial Holdings Inc. in Bradenton, Fla., has fired president and chief executive officer Brian Peters and named its chief financial officer as his replacement.

NewAlliance Bancshares Inc. in New Haven, Conn., said late Tuesday that it has a deal to buy Westbank Corp. in West Springfield, Mass., for $116 million.

Industrial Bank of Taiwan Co. Ltd. said Tuesday that it is buying the $331 million-asset EverTrust Bank in City of Industry, Calif., for $67 million.

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Sandy Spring Bancorp in Olney, Md., said a 17% increase in net loans and leases drove its second-quarter net income up 4% from a year earlier, to $8.1 million.

FNB Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., is offering a certificate of deposit designed to help customers offset the soaring cost of college tuition.

Larry Maschhoff is frustrated with customers who cannot commit.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., said Monday that its second-quarter earnings rose 5.9% from a year earlier, to $5.64 million.