Language is the biggest barrier to doing business with the fast-growing Hispanic population. To help banks overcome it, the American Bankers Association and Workplace Spanish Inc. of Roswell, Ga., have developed a program to teach front-line employees enough Spanish for basic banking transactions.

The seven Wyoming bankers who run a booth each year at a trust administrators conference in Miami get some curious looks, Pamela G. Snell says.

First Community Bancshares Inc. of Bluefield, Va., has agreed to sell its branch in Clifton Forge to Sonabank of Charlottesville for $4 million.

Never much of an acquirer, Union Bancshares Inc. of Bowling Green, Va., is scouting for targets in four Virginia markets as it seeks to double its assets in five years.

Vineyard National Bancorp of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said Monday that it had issued $15 million of trust-preferred securities and would use the proceeds to support the growth of its Vineyard Bank.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has updated its handbook on what national banks may do.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has approved plans by Southern Connecticut Bancorp of New Haven to open a bank in New London.

Community Bancorp Inc. of Escondido, Calif., has completed its $27.9 million acquisition of Rancho Bernardo Community Bank.

M&F Bancorp Inc. in Durham, N.C., said its second-quarter earnings rose 21% from the same period a year earlier, to $290,000.

After years of torrid loan growth, Vineyard National Bancorp in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is playing catch-up on the deposit side.

Center Financial Corp. of Los Angeles is in danger of having its stock delisted, because it has not certified its second-quarter earnings statement.

Guaranty Bank of Milwaukee plans to enter the Atlanta retail banking market by opening 11 supermarket branches there.

Pacific Continental Corp. in Eugene, Ore., plans to enter Washington by buying the $143 million-asset NWB Financial Corp. of Seattle for $39 million.

Since New York Gov. George Pataki signed legislation in 1997 that gives banks incentives to build branches in low-income neighborhoods, only a handful have taken the state up on its offer.

A federal magistrate's ruling that the National Credit Union Administration lacked the grounds to stop a Plano, Tex., credit union from becoming a mutual thrift could open the door to more conversion attempts, banking and credit union officials say.

J. Alton Wingate, 66, a supermarket branch pioneer and a community banker for more than 40 years, is dead.

MIDWEST

Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif., which nearly failed five years ago when its nationwide subprime mortgage business imploded, is expanding again - but closer to home.

The 152-year-old Beneficial Savings Bank of Philadelphia has its first acquisition deal and is scouting for more - because buying looks cheaper than building.

Two River Community Bank of Middletown, N.J., and Town Bank of Westfield plan to merge and form a new, yet-to-be name holding company.