Penseco Financial Services Corp. in Scranton, Pa., is buying the $220 million-asset Old Forge Bank in a deal that would combine two of northeast Pennyslvania's oldest financial institutions.

Reeling from losses on construction and development loans, Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., has overhauled its management team as part of an effort to de-emphasize commercial real estate lending.

Select Bank in Grand Rapids, Mich., has been hit with a cease-and-desist order that requires it to improve underwriting, boost loan-loss provisions, and reduce its reliance on brokered deposits.

Kevin Cummings, the president and chief executive officer of Investors Bancorp Inc. in Short Hills, N.J., refers to his company as a start-up, even though it opened 82 years ago.

Less than three weeks after joining Taylor Capital Group Inc. of Rosemont, Ill., as its executive vice president and chief operating officer, Randall T. Conte is taking on the role of chief financial officer.

Community development banks caught a break in the Treasury Department's rescue plan when they alone were exempted from issuing warrants to the government in exchange for capital injections, and they intend to take full advantage.

While visiting my old hometown in southern Louisiana recently, I came across what became my favorite advertising piece of the year. As I stopped at an intersection, I noticed a billboard for a real estate agent named Panky. (I kid you not.)

Gordon Fong resigned as the chief financial officer of Vineyard National Bancorp of Corona, Calif., which has been battered over the last year by mounting credit problems.

Territorial Savings Bank in Honolulu is planning to go public, and Community Bank in Brockton, Mass., is calling off its offering for now, in what has been a choppy market for mutual thrift conversions.

NEW ENGLAND

Since it opened for business in late 2006, American Momentum Bank in Tampa has been sitting on much of the record-setting $100 million of capital it raised.

Less than three months after joining Republic Bancorp Inc. as head of the Louisville company's acquisitions and corporate strategy, former National City Corp. executive Ted Parker has resigned to "pursue other opportunities."

Iberiabank Corp. in Lafayette, La., said Tuesday that after "extensive and careful consideration" it has decided to participate in the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program.

First Coweta Bank in Newnan, Ga., said its problem loans more than tripled from a year earlier in the third quarter, to $14.2 million, resulting in a loss of $484,000 for the three months.

Nearly four years after turning in its thrift charter, Ocwen Financial Corp. has reconsidered the merits of federal regulation and has applied to convert to a bank holding company and buy a tiny Texas bank.

Glacier Bancorp Inc. of Kalispell, Mont., said Monday that it has completed its acquisition of Bank of the San Juans in Durango, Colo.

NRDC Acquisition Corp. is looking to inject as much as $400 million into a community bank that commits to using the added capital to turbocharge its commercial real estate lending.

The faltering economy has sunk yet another banking merger.

Consumers and business owners have historically based decisions about where to bank on access, convenience, and the price of products and services, but with the economy in a tailspin, customers above all want to be sure their money is safe and that their bank is not in danger of failing.