A major natural gas find in central Arkansas promises to lift the economy of a largely rural area, and community banks are eager to set up shop there.

Omni Financial Services in Atlanta has purchased a Texas charter and is set to turn a Dallas loan production office into a full-service branch.

As the new president and chief executive officer of Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington, John A. Hall is in for a challenge.

First Financial Bankshares Inc. in Abilene, Tex., has changed the name of another one of its 10 subsidiaries.

MIDWEST

Gerald Ernst has resigned as the president and chief executive of Community Bank of Arizona in Glendale.

Vague rules and secretive lawsuits are leading some bankers to abandon government-guaranteed lending to farmers.

East West Bancorp Inc. has persuaded the Greenlining Institute to drop its protest of a pending acquisition by pledging $11.5 billion to community reinvestment activities over the next 10 years.

Olney Bancshares Inc. in Texas struck a deal Monday to acquire Union Bank of Oklahoma City for $76.9 million in cash from MB Financial Inc., an $8 billion-asset multibank holding company in Chicago.

Eddie Ledford had been meaning to start bicycling to work for years, but he never got around to it until he got a job in 2005 as a loan officer at Fidelity and Trust Bank in Bethesda, Md.

Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. has struck its third community bank buyout deal since forming a banking subsidiary in January.

Now that America's Community Bankers is merging with the American Bankers Association, what might become of ACB's remaining state association members?

Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., announced Friday that its second-quarter net income would be reduced by about $21 million because of significant deterioration in its commercial real estate loan portfolio.

Harleysville National Corp. of Pennsylvania said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that a recent internal audit uncovered a misappropriation of $578,000 resulting from "unauthorized activities" by an employee of the bank.

Tower Financial Corp. of Fort Wayne, Ind., announced Monday that it has called off plans to establish its first bank in Indianapolis.

The Louisiana Bankers Association has selected Robert Taylor as its chief executive officer.

Union National Community Bank in Lancaster, Pa., entered a memorandum of understanding with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week.

Sung Won Sohn, the president and chief executive officer of Hanmi Financial Corp. in Los Angeles, visited New York this month to suss out the local Korean communities.

The Texas Credit Union Commission has proposed a new rule that would effectively ban hostile credit union takeovers.