Americas

Top executives at Bank Mutual (BKMU) in Milwaukee told investors Monday that the company is eyeing acquisitions of banks and other financial services firms in its quest to become a “much larger company” in the next few years.

International Bancshares (IBOC) of Laredo, Texas, reported first-quarter income of $28.3 million, down more than 6% from a year earlier, as the company collected lower fees from interchange and overdraft protection.

Old Line Bancshares (OLBK) in Bowie, Md., said Monday that its first-quarter earnings climbed 236% from the same period last year, to $1.8 million, thanks largely to an acquisition last year that roughly doubled its size.

The board at Shore Bancshares (SHBI) of Easton, Md., has voted to suspend its one cent per share quarterly cash dividend following its $3 million loss in the first quarter.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Security Bank in North Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday, bringing the total number of failures so far in 2012 to 23.

Suffolk Bancorp (SUBK) swung to a profit in the first quarter as the Riverhead, N.Y., company continued to shed the problem assets that dogged it for much of 2011.

Ailing Liberty Bank in West Des Moines, Iowa, is selling three more of its branches in its home state as part of an ongoing quest to trim overhead and bolster its capital levels.

Coming off a strong first quarter in which its profits more than tripled from the same period last year, Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) in Phoenix may be looking to build up its war chest to keep the momentum going.

Five months after terminating its planned merger with one suburban Washington, D.C., bank, Alliance Bancshares in Chantilly, Va., has struck a deal to team up with another.

Coastal Banking Company in Beaufort, S.C., has become the latest community bank to take advantage of a new law that relieves small banks from the burden of filing financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.