NEW ENGLAND

Boyertown, Pa.-based National Penn Bank has its eye on more fee income, and it is using its checkbook to help get it.

East Boston Savings Bank is reaching north into New Hampshire for growth, but it is taking an indirect route.

One of the most common reasons bankers and analysts have given for the slowdown in mergers and acquisitions is what they call sellers' unrealistic expectations for the price they can get.

Members of DFCU Financial Federal Credit Union in Dearborn, Mich., began a petition drive last week to remove all nine of its directors before a June vote on its plan to convert to a mutual savings bank.

PremierWest Bancorp in Medford, Ore., said Monday that its first-quarter profits rose 24% from a year earlier, to $3.3 million.

United Bankshares Inc. of Charleston, W.Va., said it is repositioning its balance sheet by selling securities and paying off debt.

Nevada State Bank in Las Vegas is betting that if it gives small-business owners something for free, they will be so appreciative they will become customers.

Penn Liberty Financial Corp. of Wayne, Pa., said it raised $13.8 million in its second private placement stock offering.

WASHINGTON — Are banks making too much money on their Small Business Administration loans?

Crescent Financial Corp. of Cary, N.C., has agreed to acquire Port City Capital Bank of Wilmington, N.C., for $39.26 million.

WesBanco Inc. of Wheeling, W.Va., said it would take a first-quarter after-tax charge of $4.9 million as part of a balance-sheet restructuring.

Coastal Bancshares Acquisition Corp. of Houston announced Thursday it had agreed to buy Intercontinental Bank Shares Corp. in San Antonio for $16.8 million in cash.

Western Alliance Bancorp in Las Vegas is teaming up with an investor group to start a bank in Oakland, Calif.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. in Kansas City, Mo., announced Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Boone National Savings and Loan Association in Columbia, Mo., for roughly $31 million in cash.

The chief executive of New York’s Carver Bancorp Inc. says its deal for a small Brooklyn bank would instantly establish Carver as a commercial lender and help it stand its ground against larger banks continuing to enter inner-city neighborhoods.

The largest commercial bank headquartered in Florida got a rare "needs to improve" rating on its Community Reinvestment Act examination, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Wednesday.

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