A growing number of smaller banks are looking to finance transactions in a market long dominated by giants like Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Royal Credit Union announced this morning it has agreed to acquire 11 branches in northwestern Wisconsin from troubled AnchorBank.

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The $186 million-asset Wooster company, which warned this spring that it might fail, announced Monday that it has agreed to sell a majority stake to Excel Financial LLC of St. Clairsville, Ohio, for $15 million.

If you don't like the rules, change them. That's what one blank-check company did when a looming deadline threatened its plans to buy a Nevada bank.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union has agreed to become the first credit union to issue American Express cards to its members.

Two failures in Florida, including the collapse of Naples-based Orion Bank, and another in California late Friday brought the year's total to 123.

In a move that should help stressed banks avoid public relations fiascoes, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has toned down the harsh wording of orders it issues to such institutions.

Sun National Bank's wealth management business is off to a slow start thanks to the recession, but executives at the Vineland, N.J., bank say they remain committed to the business.

Harrington West Financial Group Inc. is courting potential investors as the next step in recapitalizing itself, Craig J. Cerny, its chairman and chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday.

John Kanas is remaking BankUnited in the image of the last company he ran, starting with a bold campaign to recruit bankers from rivals across Florida.

Properly structured financial education programs can and do help people make wise decisions about their personal finances. These six components are key.

Another round of writedowns on pooled trust-preferred securities has left Rainier Pacific Financial Group Inc. and its bank unit significantly undercapitalized.

FirstMerit Corp. in Akron said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy about $1.2 billion of deposits and 24 Chicago-area branches from First Bank of St. Louis.

SOUTHWEST

Selling its Kansas branches helped Harrington West Financial Group Inc. hit a capital deadline this month. But the Solvang, Calif., company is far from mended.

The significantly undercapitalized Amcore Financial Inc. is warning that its bank might fail if it cannot come up with an acceptable capital plan within a few weeks.

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Because of accounting errors, VIST Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., is revising its results for the past four quarters.

Its investments in bank stocks prompted StellarOne Corp. in Charlottesville, Va., to widen its third-quarter loss by 16%, to $9.4 million, or 41 cents a share.