Stock price to book ratios have gained on deal valuations, perhaps indicating the broader availability of potent acquisitions currency.

On Friday, the $1.8 billion-asset company in Marietta, Ohio, said it had hired Charles W. Sulerzyski, a former regional president for KeyCorp's Great Lakes region, to serve as president and chief executive, effective April 4.

North American Financial Holdings Inc. has informed its equity investors that it is thinking about consolidating all its recent bank purchases.

The largest shareholder of Magyar Bancorp Inc. of New Brunswick, N.J., is demanding that its chairman resign, pointing to "significant losses."

While much of the industry is clinging to fee income, MidSouth Bank is working with customers to reduce it as part of what the Louisiana bank calls an ombudsman program.

In a March 8 Viewpoint ["Credit Unions Face Tough Test"], Peter Duffy suggests that despite overwhelming evidence from rate-tracking services such as Datatrac, banks actually pay higher interest rates to depositors than credit unions do, and the reason is the higher deposit insurance costs credit unions incur. This analysis is quite misleading.

TCF Financial Corp.'s William Cooper is rethinking his long-held belief that economies of scale do not matter in banking.

Wide NIMs held pretty well late last year as large segments of the industry managed further expansion, and the recent shift in the yield curve has improved the outlook.

Regulators shuttered The First National Bank of Davis, a $90 million-asset institution in Oklahoma, and the $190 million-asset Legacy Bank in Milwaukee. The two closures brought the year's toll to 25.

Wells Financial Corp. in Wells, Minn., said Friday that it revised its 2010 results after boosting reserves for selected loans and repossessed properties.

Regulators shuttered The First National Bank of Davis, a $90 million-asset institution in Oklahoma, and the $190 million-asset Legacy Bank in Milwaukee. The two closures brought the year's toll to 25.

Guaranty Federal Bancshares Inc. raised its fourth-quarter loan-loss provision by 42% after getting new data on an impaired loan.

The Federal Reserve Board has voted to allow Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to retain an 9.8% stake in the $589 million-asset Avenue Financial Holdings Inc. in Nashville.

United Community Bancorp in Lawrenceburg, Ind., is planning a second-step conversion. The $488 million-asset company said late Thursday that it would sell about 59.3% of its stock still owned by its mutual holding company.

Grandpoint Capital Inc. in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Orange Community Bancorp. Under the agreement, shareholders of the $223.6 million-asset Orange Community would receive $30 million in cash, or $11.70 a share.

The Federal Reserve Board has voted to allow Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to retain an 9.8% stake in a small Tennessee banking company. Goldman Sachs Investment Partners Master Fund LP made the investment in the $589 million-asset Avenue Financial Holdings Inc. in Nashville in 2007.

More adept now at tapping capital, a small but significant number of community banks in the hardest-hit states like California, Georgia and Illinois are escaping from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

While Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., and other top policymakers continue to push for the creation of a covered bond market in the U.S., some community bankers are raising concerns.

While Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., and other top policymakers continue to push for the creation of a covered bond market in the U.S., some community bankers are raising concerns.

Iberiabank Corp. is on track to buy two Louisiana banks, ending the Layfayette company's seven-year lull of deal making in the state.