PNC Financial Services Group Inc., of Pittsburgh, officially entered the Atlanta market over the weekend after closing a deal to acquire Flagstar Bancorp Inc.'s 27 branches there.

First Niagara's chief knows how to party, photos show. Lighter moment is part of serious effort at breaking the ice with new employees of a rapidly growing company, officials of the Buffalo bank say.

After reporting a profit of $2.6 million in the third quarter, Pacific Continental Corp. in Eugene, Ore., is projecting a loss in the fourth quarter as result of expected writedowns on certain real estate loans.

Republic Bancorp in Louisville, Ky., announced on Friday that it would soon stop making refund-anticipation loans as part of a settlement with the FDIC. Now it needs to find revenue to replace the $24.5 million the business has made this year.

The Buffalo company is scheduled to close on $1.1 billion of offerings over three days next week to pay for its increasingly problematic deal to buy 195 HSBC branches.

Lars Svensson, deputy governor of Sweden's central bank recently urged the Federal Reserve to find ways to push borrowing costs lower — this even though we already have the lowest nominal interest rates in modern history.

Bank of Virginia in Midlothian, Va., has named a new senior vice president of operations as it launches a $40 million commercial lending effort.

First Security Group Inc. in Chattanooga, Tenn., has named a former executive of the failed Integra Bank Corp. as chief executive of its banking unit, FSGBank N.A.

Southern Community Financial Corp. in Winston-Salem, N.C., has split the roles of chairman and chief executive.

Republic Bancorp in Kentucky said in a regulatory filing Friday that it has settled its months-long battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over its controversial refund anticipation loan product.

CUNA says now that membership for credit unions grew by only a third of what it originally projected for the weeks before Bank Transfer Day.

Looking to bulk up in affluent Orange County, California United Bank in Encino announced Friday that it is buying the $450 million-asset Premier Commercial Bancorp in Anaheim for $38.1 million in stock.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston has struck its second deal in three months, announcing Friday that it is buying East Texas Financial Services Inc. in Tyler in all-stock deal.

Center Bancorp Inc. in Union, N.J., said Thursday that it repurchased warrants it issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Want to defuse disgruntled customers and Occupy protesters across the country? Perhaps bankers should consider the power of a well-timed juicy cut of beef. At least that's the advice of Peter Shankman, founder and chief executive of social media firm the Geek Factory.

The management of the newly formed BBCN Bancorp believe delayed approvals helped Nara Bancorp and Center Financial better prepare for their merger.

U.S. Bancorp and Fifth Third are eyeing small deals that would make them bigger players in markets they are already in, executives say. It sounds like a good idea for them and others, but will banks stick to it?

The Federal Reserve Board said Thursday that it had approved Brookline Bancorp Inc.'s acquisition of Bancorp Rhode Island Inc. in Providence, R.I.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Inc. in Newton said that Tony Wolfe, its longtime president and chief executive, will retire late next year.