Normally low-profile PacWest CEO Matt Wagner could get a night gig emceeing roasts or appearing at an L.A. comedy store, a sometimes-lighthearted conference call revealed this week.

Citigroup and Wells Fargo are laying off hundreds of mortgage workers, as the boom in home loan refinances starts to taper off. The job cuts are a familiar story for the cyclical mortgage business, but they signal more bad news for the banks that have seen refis as a bright spot amid lackluster sources of revenue.

Columbia Banking System in Tacoma, Wash., reported higher quarterly earnings.

The former First PacTrust has hired ex-L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as a senior advisor and made Magic Johnson Enterprises executive Eric Holoman a director and head of its new community reinvestment panel.

United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga., reported a huge profit after a tax reversal allowed it to purge its balance sheet of bad loans.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Pittsfield, Mass., is planning a comprehensive review designed to reduce core operating costs.

Univest Corp. of Pennsylvania in Souderton will start next year with a new chief executive.

New York Private Bank & Trust, the parent company of Emigrant Bank, has fully repaid its Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

BNCCorp in Bismarck, N.D., has appointed an interim leader after Gregory Cleveland, the $798 million-asset company's chief executive, died Tuesday after a sudden illness. He was 65.

Gayle Manchin has been elected to serve on the board of MVB Financial, the Fairmont, W.Va., bank, it announced Monday. Her husband, Joe Manchin, was West Virginia governor from 2005 through 2010 and is now the state's junior U.S. senator.

Porter Bancorp in Louisville is poised to make John Taylor its chief executive after the sudden retirement of Maria Bouvette. The move could improve its changes of attracting new investors to recapitalize it.

Community banks are once again considering offering credit cards after retreating from the product after the financial crisis.

Profit slipped at Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) in San Antonio as expenses rose last quarter.

Profit fell at New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) in Westbury, N.Y, as mortgage banking revenue dropped sharply last quarter.

New executives are effecting an IT reawakening at Orrstown Bank to prepare it for growth. Projects being tackled include: enlarging the IT team, outsourcing the core, replacing the email system and redoing the digital channels.

BankUnited (BKU) in Miami Lakes, Fla., added interest income and beat earnings estimates as it expanded into New York City last quarter.

Asset management fees helped push UMB Financial in Kansas City, Mo., to a higher quarterly profit.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Pittsfield, Mass., and Community Bank System in DeWitt, N.Y., have struck deals to buy branches from Bank of America.

Trustmark in Jackson, Miss., says it is starting to realize the benefits of its acquisition of BancTrust Financial Group.