Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa, Calif., is searching for a new chief credit officer for its banking unit.

When Stewart Greenlee joined CenterBank of Milford, Ohio, as its chief executive 18 months ago, he set an ambitious goal: Transform the tiny bank into a Cincinnati-area powerhouse with $1 billion of assets.

From Mark L. Johnston's point of view, the merger agreement that his mutual savings bank in Augusta, Maine, announced this week is not much different from any other one.

To the Editor:

A Louisiana holding company that owns three bankers' banks is buying a fourth, in Arkansas, in what would be the first merger of bankers' banks.

Yadkin Valley Financial Corp. of Elkin, N.C., would enter North Carolina's largest market and increase its assets by about 40% with the deal it announced Wednesday for American Community Bancshares Inc. of Charlotte, but its investors do not seem impressed.

Newnan Coweta Bancshares Inc. signed a written agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Georgia state regulators requiring it to submit a conflict of interest policy, improve board oversight and underwriting standards, and maintain its capital position, the Fed said Wednesday.

NEW ENGLAND

Kansas Bankers Surety Co., an insurance firm in Topeka, said it will no longer offer banks a tool designed to protect deposits of more than $100,000.

Integrity Bank was the first Georgia bank to fail this year, and industry watchers say it will not be the last.

Shares of Signature Bank soared Tuesday after the New York commercial bank announced that it had expanded its stock offering by roughly 34%, to 4.7 million shares.

Three days before the government stepped in to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a small Tennessee thrift said it was forced to sell itself because its investment in the government-sponsored enterprises had soured and depleted its capital.

Chemical Financial Corp. of Midland, Mich., said Monday that it will take an after-tax charge of $7.2 million, or 30 cents per share, against its third quarter earnings in relation to what it said was a fraudulent commercial loan.

Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Rosemont, Ill., said that it has raised $120 million in a private placement and subordinated debt issuance, and that it would use the proceeds to fuel growth and strengthen its balance sheet.

With three weeks left in the third quarter, already more bank and thrift mergers have been called off this year than in the last two years combined.

Shares of Bridge Capital Holdings fell sharply Friday after the San Jose, Calif., company restated its second-quarter earnings to show a $1.3 million loss.

Columbia Bancorp in The Dalles, Ore., is shuttering its mortgage division and slashing about 18% of its work force in response to the housing slowdown in the Pacific Northwest, though analysts say it remains exposed to credit deterioration in other sectors.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. in Lansing, Mich., plans to open a bank in Pittsburgh, which would be only the fourth start-up for that region in 40 years, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Valley National Bancorp of Wayne, N.J., said late Wednesday that the fair market value of its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock declined by $40 million from June 30 to Sept. 2.

The community banks that use legacy systems for core technology applications are in for some challenging times.