Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane has found a way to raise $730 million in fresh capital, including an expansion of its investments from the private-equity firms Warburg Pincus LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP.

While many banks have watched their earnings erode in recent years, Greater Hudson Bank in Middletown, N.Y., is bucking the trend — it first became profitable last year and has reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit.

PAB Bankshares Inc. in Valdosta, Ga., said late Wednesday that it had withdrawn plans to raise $80 million in a common stock offering "due to changing market conditions."

Western Alliance Bancorp. on Thursday priced its public offering of 7 million shares at $6.25 a share, an 8.5% discount to Wednesday's closing price.

One major question about First Niagara's deal to buy NewAlliance remains unanswered: what role Peyton Patterson, the seller's chief executive and one of the most prominent bankers in New England, will play in the post-merger company.

Sitting on a pile of cash from an initial public offering six years ago, NewAlliance Bancshares seemed poised to make a big acquisition. So it came as a surprise to many in the banking world Thursday when the company announced that it is being acquired by First Niagara Financial Group for $1.5 billion in a deal that would create one of the top 25 U.S.-based commercial banks.

First Niagara said NewAlliance's extensive branch network will serve as a foundation for the Buffalo-based bank's growth in New England.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. agreed to acquire New Alliance Bancshares Inc. for some $1.5 billion in stock, giving the Buffalo-based bank a foothold in New England.

Western Alliance Bancorp., which is raising capital for banking units hit hard by real-estate woes in Nevada, Arizona and California, said its planned sale of at least 7 million shares were priced at an 8.5% discount to Wednesday's close.

Grandpoint Capital Inc. struck again this week, announcing two bank deals with Capitol Bancorp Ltd., which brings to four the number of acquisitions Grandpoint has announced in the past two months.

Bonneville Bancorp is taking an unusually drastic — and seemingly counterintuitive — approach to fighting fraud. To make sure its customers use their PIN codes, shoring up security for debit purchases, it is prohibiting signature debit payments in some states.

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NEW ENGLAND

Boston-based OneUnited Bank skipped its sixth consecutive dividend payment to the U.S. government, making it just one of a handful to have fallen so far behind, the company's chief executive said in an interview.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. in Lansing, Mich., said it reduced its loss in the second quarter to $41 million, compared with a $47.9 million loss a year earlier.

The $1.2 billion-asset company on Monday posted a $21 million loss, compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the first quarter, and net income of $342,000 a year earlier.

Less than two years after it became the first "blank-check" acquirer to take over failed banks, Community Bankers Trust Corp. is reeling.

To stimulate employment, our government should consider providing startup businesses with a three-year tax holiday and provide the banks that finance them with tax-free status on the interest received on any loans provided.

The Federal Reserve announced an enforcement action Monday against First Banking Center Inc. to ensure that the bank is adequately capitalized.

Community Financial Shares Inc. in Glen Ellyn, Ill., reported a steeper loss, $2.8 million, in the second quarter than the $446,000 a year earlier and blamed loss provisioning.