Battered by huge losses on loans to developers in Georgia and Florida, Omni National Bank in Atlanta has put its plan to open branches or loan offices throughout the United States on hold.

If a Pennsylvania bank wins a case challenging the way banks there are taxed after a merger, dozens of banks that have made in-state acquisitions could be eligible for refunds.

Hometown Community Bancorp Inc. of Morton, Ill., has a deal to acquire the $178 million-asset Alpha Financial Group Inc. of Toluca.

The recent plunge in Bank of the Ozarks Inc.'s stock might best be explained as guilt by association.

Expecting losses in its residential construction loan portfolio to continue to mount, WGNB Corp. of Carrollton, Ga., is looking to raise as much as $25 million.

Gary Roberts plans to retire July 1 as the president and chief executive officer of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, a unit of F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage.

For community banks looking to gain scale and improve efficiency, their options are generally to acquire or be acquired.

Dick Kovacevich had a clear philosophy at Norwest and Wells Fargo: Money moves.

Talk about odd timing.

Natcom Bancshares Inc. in Superior, Wis., said it has agreed to buy Superior Bancorp.

The Office of Thrift Supervision has found Imperial Savings and Loan Association "critically undercapitalized" and ordered the Martinsville, Va., thrift to sell itself.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has classified Metropolitan National Bank in Little Rock a "troubled institution" and ordered it to reduce problem assets and improve its capital ratios.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Community bankers are once again pushing Congress to further amend the tax code so that more banks would qualify as tax-advantaged Subchapter S corporations.

Republic First Bancorp Inc. in Philadelphia added Theodore J. Flocco Jr. to its board of directors.

Texas Banking Commissioner Randall James announced Monday that he plans to retire Aug. 31.

Banks that say they plan to go private almost always do so, but a Missouri company that wants to delist its stock is facing resistance from shareholders.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has classified Metropolitan National Bank in Little Rock a "troubled institution" and ordered it to reduce problem assets, improve its capital ratios, and address the concentration risk in its commercial real estate portfolio.