The parent company of United Legacy Bank in Winter Park, Fla., is buying a large stake in a rival bank in what appears to be the first step toward building a multi-bank holding company.

Bankers shouldn't complain about intrusive government regulation while begging Congress to extend unlimited deposit insurance on large transaction accounts. It's disingenuous, and perhaps worse, it's dangerous politics.

CoBank, the largest lender in the government-backed Farm Credit System, reported record profits in 2011 as higher prices for key commodities such as corn, wheat and soy led to increased loan demand from large cooperatives and agribusinesses.

People's United Financial Inc. in Bridgeport, Conn., is moving to streamline its operations after making five acquisitions in less than three years.

Britton & Koontz Bank in Natchez, Miss., has been ordered by its regulator to immediately take steps to reduce the level of risk in its loan portfolio.

The growth-hungry Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., is making good on its plans to grow organically alongside acquisitions.

Maryland lawmakers will consider a bill that would require the state treasurer to give a preference to banks with less than $5 billion of assets when doling out state banking business.

Warburg Pincus, which has invested in three banks, employed a different strategy than many of its rivals that bought into financial institutions, managing director Daniel Zilberman explains. And it has the strategy for its next round of deals ready to go.

Reviving a dead bank is as difficult as unscrambling an egg, but executives of the former United Western Bank are still trying to put their failed thrift back together again.

Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane, Wash., has laid off 6% of its full-time employees as it works to reach an ambitious efficiency ratio goal by 2013.

Some small banks fear expiration of FDIC loan guarantees will cost them deposits. Others say the Transaction Account Guarantee program has served its purpose and should go away.

First Place Financial Corp. in Warren, Ohio said it was not able to file its results for the quarter ending Dec. 31, marking its sixth consecutive quarter in the dark, as its massive multi-year restatement drags on.

Provident New York Bancorp in Montebello said in a shelf registration that it may raise up to $75 million through the sale of various securities.

Never mind the shadow inventory of homes ultimately destined for foreclosure. By some lights, the broader excess stock of housing – both for rent and for sale – is manageable, and grounds for a bull case on construction, and maybe construction lending.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has entered into an agreement with American National Bank in Oakland Park, Fla., after finding "unsafe or unsound banking practices relating to credit risk."

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. expects to close 35 branches after it completes its acquisition of HSBC Holdings Plc's branches in mid-May.

A bailout-era program that offers unlimited deposit insurance on business transaction accounts is set to expire at the end of this year. Some argue that the Transaction Account Guarantee Program has run its course, but many community bankers fear that if it is eliminated large depositors will move their money to megabanks seen as too big to fail.

Regulators have lifted a consent order against Plumas Bancorp after the Quincy, Calif., company increased capital ratios and improved lending policies and practices.

The Florida company is looking at bringing in capital in case the sale of its thrift fails to go through by early April.

Tim Pettus, the president of First Farmers & Merchants Bank in Columbia, Tenn., says he is proud that the bank's donations to a nonprofit have helped turn around a crime-ridden part of town.