Fredericksburg, Va., is about to lose its last two local banks, but two veterans of Mercantile Bankshares Corp. of Baltimore plan to fill the void.

Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles had cast its former chief executive officer as the bad guy in an accounting scandal there two years ago, but Benjamin Hong said he feels vindicated, now that an arbitration panel has ruled in his favor in a lawsuit the $2.2 billion-asset company filed against him.

Home BancShares Inc. in Conway, Ark., has a deal to acquire Centennial Bankshares Inc. in Kingsland for $25.6 million in cash and stock.

Suddenly, Texas is having a deal dry spell.

First National Bancshares Inc. of Spartanburg, S.C., announced plans Monday to buy the $226 million-asset Carolina National Corp. of Columbia, S.C., for $59 million in a deal that would create the ninth-largest banking company headquartered in the state.

BNCCorp Inc. was so successful selling insurance that the Bismarck, N.D., banking company had to make a choice.

IBT Bancorp Inc. of Mount Pleasant, Mich., announced plans to acquire the $107 million-asset Greenville Community Bank for $34 million in stock.

Mayflower Bancorp Inc. in Middleboro, Mass., said Friday that earnings for its fiscal first quarter, which ended July 31, fell 19% from a year earlier, to $242,000.

Dollar Bank in Pittsburgh said Stephen C. Hansen, its chairman and chief executive officer for more than two decades until his June retirement, died Tuesday at the age of 67.

Savannah Bancorp Inc. in Georgia said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire the assets of Minis & Co. Inc., a Savannah investment advisory firm.

When MagnetBank opened two years ago, its founders chartered it as an industrial loan company, because that charter seemed to suit its unconventional business model of funding commercial loans entirely with wholesale deposits.

First National Bank Holding Co. in Scottsdale, Ariz., said Tuesday that it would stop servicing mortgages it had bought from brokers nationwide, though it would continue to service wholesale mortgages made by brokers in its local markets.

Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., has fired its chief executive officer eight weeks after announcing that troubled commercial real estate loans would take a $21 million bite out of its second-quarter earnings.

Ridgewood Savings Bank is looking to become a more prominent player in the New York market with the dozen branches it gained by buying City and Suburban Financial Corp. in Yonkers last month.

Southside Bank in Tyler, Tex., is teaming up with a group of automobile financing specialists to form a portfolio-acquiring joint venture.

Appalachian Bancshares Inc. in Ellijay, Ga., has received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to open a branch in Dalton that would target the growing Hispanic population in Whitfield and Murray counties.

Bank of Commerce Holdings in Redding, Calif., said it has put Michael C. Mayer, its president and chief executive officer, on administrative leave.

Among the issues Congress is to consider when it returns from summer recess next month is whether to let banks help the Small Business Administration make loans to homeowners and business owners hard hit by disasters.

The mortgage meltdown has sullied the reputations of more than a few lenders, so banking companies are going on the offensive to preserve theirs.