Capital

The Tennessee bank has agreed to pay nearly $85 million for Capstone Bancshares in Alabama.

The money will be used to hire more people. It is also a morale boost for the group, which has suffered some high-profile recent defections.

Union Bankshares is poised to become a nearly $12 billion-asset bank in a state that lost most of its midsize institutions in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The company agreed to buy Commerce Bancshares, which has three branches in Boston.

The $701 million acquisition will make Union the biggest community bank based in Virginia.

Financial Institutions in western New York withdrew plans to raise $40 million.

The former New Jersey mutual is stepping up efforts to court bigger commercial clients. The move will help Investors diversify its loan book and deploy capital while it is barred from buying banks.

The $489 million acquisition is among the ten biggest bank M&A deals announced this year.

Federal regulators are early in the process of deciding whether to broaden credit unions' access to capital markets, but banking lobbyists have seen enough to argue that it would let credit unions skirt business-lending limits.

The comment period on NCUA's notice of proposed rulemaking on alternative capital ended last week, and judging by the letters, another battle is brewing.