A spate of banking laws that took effect New Year's Day include an Indiana predatory-lending law that exempts banks and could lead to similar statutes elsewhere.

Habersham Bancorp in Cornelia, Ga., announced a nonbonding agreement to buy a two-branch bank in nearby Toccoa.

MIDWEST

Already struggling with credit-quality problems, Financial Institutions Inc. of Warsaw, N.Y., says it has uncovered weaknesses in its internal controls for financial reporting at two of its four bank units.

Once determined to maintain its status as a multibank holding company with subsidiaries throughout Tennessee, Civitas Bankgroup Inc. in Franklin is changing course and selling its banks in smaller markets.

In his more than six years on the board of the Farm Credit System's regulator, including four as its chairman, Michael M. Reyna says he was too busy regulating to advocate for wholesale changes to the system.

Central Bancshares Inc. of Lexington, Ky., has agreed to buy First Bank Inc. of Louisville for $13.5 million.

"My wife has been in the hospital, and we have to postpone our trip to my son's wedding in San Francisco by one day. How much will it cost?"

Baltimore's reemergence as a desirable place to live has spawned a new line of business for the $489 million-asset K Bank of Owings Mills, Md.: purchase-and-rehabilitation lending for individual investors.

Allied Capital Corp. said Monday the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has asked the Washington company for information on its activities and those of its Business Loan Express LLC "in connection with a criminal investigation."

Brooklyn Federal Bancorp Inc., a 118-year-old mutual thrift with two branches in Brooklyn, N.Y., and one on Long Island, plans to raise $25 million to $39 million by selling a 30% stake to investors.

Northwest Bancorp Inc. of Warren, Pa., announced Monday that it will fold its small Jamestown Savings Bank in upstate New York into its larger thrift, Northwest Savings Bank of Warren.

After seven years as a public company, KS Bancorp Inc. in Smithfield, N.C., is planning to deregister its stock and go private.

Rabobank International, thwar-ted in its attempt to buy one of the nation's largest Farm Credit System lenders, is taking another tack to raise its profile with farmers.

Score two for bankers and one for credit unions in the latest battles over fields of membership.

Like many community development banks, Native American Bank in Browning, Mont., relies heavily on deposits from corporations to support its mission - but rarely do they exceed the $100,000 covered by federal deposit insurance.

NEW ENGLAND

Sky Financial Group in Bowling Green, Ohio, is buying the $297 million-asset Belmont Bancorp of Bridgeport for $69.2 million.

Sometimes two problems add up to one solution.