OKLAHOMA CITY — It's high noon for Frontier State Bank.

Carolina Trust Bank in Lincolntown, N.C., has a deal to buy Carolina Commerce Bank in Gastonia, N.C., for $5.5 million in stock.

Colony Capital LLC, a firm owned by the billionaire Thomas Barrack, and Stephen Ross' Related Cos. may seek to buy the assets of Corus Bankshares Inc., the Chicago lender facing a regulatory deadline to boost capital, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Recently, a bank has been running a national ad campaign that has strengthened my distaste of negative advertising.

Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., became the first banking company to make a partial repayment of Treasury Department funds, slicing the government's investment by a quarter Wednesday.

MIDWEST

First Financial Bancorp is to offer $90 million of stock this week, $10 million less than the Ohio bank had expected when it priced its offering two weeks ago.

Temecula Valley Bancorp Inc. has gone from hanging on by a thread to getting a lifeline.

Silicon Valley Bank said Tuesday that it has teamed up with GW & Wade LLC to offer wealth and tax planning services.

After being jilted by two would-be buyers, Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. of West Chester, Ohio, now finds itself in a position to pick partners — at least for its branches.

Integra Bank Corp. of Evansville, Ind., is getting closer scrutiny from its regulator, but there is some debate about how that might affect the $3.6 billion-asset company.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. of Pittsfield, Mass., said Monday that it would not increase its offer to buy CNB Financial Corp., even if that means losing the deal.

Bankers' bank executives have spent much of the last month telling people that Silverton Bank was not one of them, and that its failure was not a harbinger for the sector.

A third company is pursuing CNB Financial Corp. of Worcester, Mass.

Before it failed last week, BankUnited was Florida's largest homegrown banking company, and under John Kanas it intends to stay that way.

Banks are facing a serious tension between costs and service, but you cannot save yourself into prosperity. You have to grow the top line and your margins.

The Small Business Administration will begin in July to guarantee loans that help auto dealers purchase inventory, officials said Thursday.

SOUTHEAST

The capital pressure at Nexity Financial Corp. is mounting, but its top executive says the Birmingham, Ala., company is close to raising what it needs.