Capitol Federal Financial in Topeka, Kan., said Monday that it plans to raise up to $1.96 billion by converting from a mutual holding company to a stock company.

Two big names in industry circles just planted seeds they hope will sprout into the East Coast's next billion-dollar banking companies.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke put the onus squarely on banks to remedy small-business owners' continuing complaints about the limited availability of credit.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board said Monday it found that the "worst is over" for small businesses seeking credit, but that's not what some people on the ground are saying.

Two-year-old Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust has a new president and chief executive in longtime Citigroup Inc. wealth-management executive Robert Matthews. He replaces Kevin McCabe, who left the bank in January.

The $170 million-asset company said late Thursday that it plans to become a full stock company through a second-step conversion. It completed the first step in January 2005, giving its mutual holding company a 63.8% ownership stake.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. in Honolulu has entered into an agreement with state and federal regulators requiring it to submit a capital restoration plan within 60 days.

Bankers in this climate recognize that in order to get capital, they often have to give a little something first. Still, offering a 9% annual interest rate for a decade is a cost only a handful of bankers are willing to bear.

Hovde Acquisitions, a Washington private equity firm, used a shelf charter to pick up the $282 million-asset Bay National Bank in Baltimore, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and was one of four failures on Friday.

Hovde Acquisitions, a Washington private equity firm, used a shelf charter to pick up the $282 million-asset Bay National Bank in Baltimore, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and was one of four failures on Friday.

Second Federal Savings and Loan in Chicago views itself as the ShoreBank for its surrounding Hispanic community and hopes prospective investors will see it that way, too.

NBH Holdings took the first step this week in its quest to build a $12 billion-asset community banking network by agreeing to acquire Bank Midwest in Kansas City, Mo.

North Carolina banking titan and civic leader John Arthur Forlines Jr. died Tuesday. He was 92.

Sun Bancorp Inc. of Vineland, N.J. said Thursday that it will raise $100 million via private-equity funds affiliated with WL Ross & Co. LLC and shareholders of the bank's founding Brown family.

Sun Bancorp Inc. said billionaire investor Wilbur Ross' private equity firm, Sun's founding Brown Family and others have agreed to invest $100 million in equity as the bank grows its New Jersey base.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

NBH Holdings Inc., a Boston-based bank holding company, announced a deal late Wednesday to acquire the commercial and retail banking operations of Bank Midwest National Association in Kansas City, Mo.

Fifth Third said it has acquired the assets of credit union processor TNB Card Services from credit union-owned Town North Bank of Dallas.