In its deal for Hartford's Florida bank unit, CenterState was inventive in finding a way to grow on the cheap without having to worry about all the strings that come with failed-bank deals.

New American Bankers Association chief Frank Keating is a delegator who relishes political networking. In other words, he's nothing like Ed Yingling, the group's former CEO, who could pretty much do anyone's job there and was happy to leave the glad-handing to others.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced that it had reached a written agreement with BW Bancorp in Ely, Minn.

For a growing group of acquisition-minded community banks, fee-based businesses are looking like a more attractive way to bolster revenue and the bottom line than are traditional bank deals these days.

First Community Bancshares Inc. in Bluefield, Va., appears poised to make acquisitions after raising $19 million in fresh capital.

Battered by defaults on real estate loans, FNB United Corp. of Asheboro, N.C. reported a loss of nearly $45 million in the first quarter and says that it is likely to fail if a previously announced recapitalization plan falls through.

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SCB Bank in Shelbyville, Ind., is running low on capital after management opted to set aside more than $11 million to cover problem loans dating to the tenure of its former chief executive.

Given the rocky results of past couplings, rival brokerages and observers will be closely watching Sterne Agee & Leach's acquisition of an unidentified bank.

Two struggling community banks — Waccamaw Bancshares Inc. in Whiteville, N.C., and First Mariner Bancorp in Baltimore — have received letters from the Nasdaq Stock Market warning that their stocks could be removed from the exchange for failing to meet basic listing requirements.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is creating a task force aimed at cracking down on mortgage fraud in the country's largest state, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Less than two years after it acquired Federal Trust Bank in Sanford, Fla., so it could qualify for a federal bailout, insurance giant Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is selling the thrift to another Florida banking company.

SCB Bank is running low on capital after its management opted to set aside more than $11 million to cover problem loans made during the tenure of its former chief executive.

Three failures late Friday, including a pair in Georgia, cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. an estimated $445 million.

Three failures late Friday, including a pair in Georgia, cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. an estimated $445 million.

After years of experimentation, some banks are finding the right mix of technology, ambiance and human interaction. The most effective formula varies, and the only constant is that there are no absolutes.

For the first time in its history, Virginia Community Bank in Louisa has a CEO whose name is not A. Pierce Stone.

For the first time in its history, Virginia Community Bank in Louisa has a CEO whose name is not A. Pierce Stone.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. and Legacy Bancorp Inc., both of Pittsfield, Mass., have agreed to sell off four overlapping branches as a condition of their merger.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. and Legacy Bancorp Inc., both of Pittsfield, Mass., have agreed to sell off four overlapping branches as a condition of their merger.