Nasdaq is giving a number of struggling companies a little more breathing room, making it easier for stocks to stay on the exchange even after falling short of listing requirements.

Heritage Financial Group Inc. in Albany, Ga., said Tuesday that it has finished its second-step conversion and is now a stock holding company.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., an active buyer of failed competitors, on Tuesday appointed a president for its bank.

Heartland Financial USA Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa, has picked up a team of mortgage bankers that had worked at a failed Arizona thrift.

Lawyers for the National Credit Union Administration met Tuesday to discuss whether a federal pay freeze proposed by President Obama would apply to raises eyed for agency employees.

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The $1.9 billion-asset company said in a Nov. 24 regulatory filing that David Wesel is resigning his post at Peoples Bank, effective Dec. 10.

Oriental Financial Group Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has joined a handful of banking companies by raising its quarterly dividend.

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. has named an insider as the president and chief executive of the unit Borel Private Bank and Trust Co.

Though some credit union CEOs continue to express dismay at NCUA in the wake of its announced plan to expand its budget — and many employees' pay — in 2011, others are saying pay increases are a needed investment to avoid having to pay higher costs down the road as a result of insufficiently trained and staffed examination teams.

In less than a year it has transformed itself from a tiny, $75 million-asset bank in Troy that focused on private banking to an almost $2 billion-asset regional player with branches in two states and its sights set on further expansion.

Superior Bancorp in Birmingham, Ala., is seeking $58 million from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, a fund created by the oil company BP to cover damages caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Cambridge, Mass., wants vitality and diversity in its squares, but this may exclude bank branches.

First Southern Bank in Boca Raton, Fla. is realigning its organization to make it easier to expand.

As more community banks gravitate to a strategy of quickly purging bad loans, Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles has something to show for holding out.

As more community banks gravitate to a strategy of quickly purging bad loans, Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles has something to show for holding out.

Despite its pending sale, Cadence Financial Corp. in Starkville, Miss., has been ordered to submit a capital plan to the Federal Reserve Board.

Bank of Kentucky Financial Corp. in Crestview Hills has raised $28.1 million of capital that will go toward repaying the Treasury Department.

United Western Bancorp Inc. of Denver has received a noncompliance letter from the Nasdaq because it has yet to file its third-quarter results.

Private-equity firms willing to fund cash-strapped banks are snatching opportunities from more traditional consolidators.