Americas

UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., reported earnings of $26.3 million, up 14.4%, as credit costs fell and noninterest income jumped.

FirstAtlantic Bank said Wednesday that it had agreed to buy CenterBank in a deal that will combine two Jacksonville, Fla., banks.

Security Savings Bank in Southport, N.C., said that it has hired an Atlanta firm to help it explore strategic option, including a possible sale.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. in San Antonio reported that second-quarter earnings rose 5.3% from a year earlier, to $55.7 million, although the company struggled to capitalize on a windfall of excessive liquidity.

After striking two deals around Kansas City, Mo., last year, Laney, the Boston-based president and chief executive of NBH Holdings Corp., has moved on to Colorado, buying the $1 billion-asset Bank of Choice in Greeley on Friday in a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Trustmark Corp. in Jackson, Miss., said Tuesday that its second-quarter earnings jumped 21% from the same period last year, to $31.6 million.

Sterling Bancorp in New York reported strong loan and deposit growth in the second quarter, but profits were dampened somewhat by the cost of exiting the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

PrivateBancorp Inc. reported its fourth-straight quarterly profit Tuesday, but weak loan growth and declining revenue have raised questions about whether the Chicago company can maintain the momentum.

Bolstered by improved credit quality and growing demand for Small Business Administration loans, Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles reported its fourth-consecutive quarterly profit in the three months that ended June 30.

Yadkin Valley Bank and Trust Co. in Elkin, N.C., has exited the wholesale mortgage business in order to better focus on retail mortgage lending.