Delaware County Bank & Trust in Lewis Center, Ohio, is the latest bank to add private banking in an effort to court more high-net-worth customers.

First California Financial Group faces investor pressure to sell and an unsolicited bid from PacWest Bancorp. Yet it danced around its vulnerable M&A status in a proxy filing on its deal to buy Premier Service Bank.

Mutual holding companies appear to be fleeing the format and converting to stock companies, but Northeast Community CEO Kenneth Martinek remains a staunch supporter of the model. That may be partly because he's being sued by an activist investor who is pushing him to convert Northeast to a stock company from an MHC.

Sophia Haliotis will be a senior vice president for Popular Community, the U.S. unit of the $36.3 billion-asset Popular in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and guide its expansion of commercial banking in the New York City region.

The CEO of First PacTrust will now share his title with an investor and director, who the bank hired to oversee nonbank deals.

BB&T (BBT) will lay off as many as 365 employees in connection with its acquisition of BankAtlantic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., according to a filing with the state government.

Pulaski Financial (PULB) in St. Louis has repurchased almost a quarter of the preferred stock it had issued to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program and that was subsequently sold to private investors in an auction.

The number of homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth fell by about 400,000 in the second quarter as prices rose and properties were lost to foreclosure, Zillow said.

The banking SuperPAC is eyeing seven candidates — four Republicans and three Democrats — as it decides what two races to support in late September or early October. Following is the short list of who is under consideration.

Malvern Federal Bancorp (MLVF) in Paoli, Pa., will raise up to roughly $36.4 million by converting to a 100% stock-owned company from a mutual holding company.

Investor and director Steven Sugarman will now share CEO duties with Gregory Mitchell at First PacTrust of Irvine, Calif. The company announced a bank deal Wednesday, and Sugarman is expected to take lead on nonbank deals.

Industry observers are advising more community banks with trust-preferred securities to raise capital now before Basel III puts them at odds with regulators.

Broadway Financial's (BYFC) woes continued as the Los Angeles company said that its financial results for 2011 and the first quarter of this year will have to be revised and could no longer be trusted.

Preferred Bank (PFBC) in Los Angeles has added the role of president to the responsibilities of its chief operating officer, Wellington Chen.

First PacTrust Bancorp (BANC) has landed another deal and a co-chief executive.

The private-equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners has invested $50 million in TriState Capital Holdings in Pittsburgh.

Dealmakers have been pushing bankruptcy recapitalizations for a few years. The time may now be ripe with credit quality improving while debt loads linger.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. next Tuesday will release its latest quarterly update on earnings, loan growth and other indicators for the entire banking industry.

A federal charter for National Consumer Credit Corporations could help community bankers serve (and profit off) low-to-moderate-income consumers.

The banking industry, reeling from public outrage and increased regulation, is proving incapable of finding a champion to replace sidelined JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.