OceanFirst Financial Corp. in Toms River, N.J., said it will close its troubled mortgage unit, Columbia Home Loans LLC, rather than sell it.

First State Bancshares Inc. in Farmington, Mo., is entering two counties with a deal to buy Progress Bancshares Inc. in Sullivan.

The former president and chief executive of a banking company UCBH Holdings Inc. recently acquired has joined the San Francisco company's board.

Only seven days after announcing April 17 that it would adopt a new accounting standard to restructure its balance sheet, Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., reversed its decision.

FNB United Corp. of Asheboro, N.C., said that it would change the name of its subsidiary bank to CommunityONE Bank on June 4.

Flush with $1.2 billion of new capital from its initial public offering, Third Federal Savings and Loan Association in Cleveland is eyeing an expansion in Florida.

Its drive for an industrial loan charter stalled, the commercial lender CapitalSource Inc. of Chevy Chase, Md., found a new route to diversifying its funding: buying a Nebraska thrift.

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Southside Bancshares Inc. in Tyler, Tex., is entering the Fort Worth and Arlington markets with a $36.5 million cash deal for Forth Worth Bancshares Inc.

Boardwalk Bancorp. in Linwood, N.J., said Friday that it will revise its first-quarter results to a net loss of $664,000 because it is reversing a decision to adopt a new accounting rule. In April it reported a first-quarter profit of $647,000, or 15 cents a share.

After setting up shop in six new markets across the country last year, The Bankers Bank in Atlanta is readying itself for even more expansion.

WASHINGTON — The Office of Thrift Supervision and several trade groups are supporting a New Jersey thrift's attempt to sue a depositor to prevent him from seizing control of the institution and forcing it to go public.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. of Itasca, Ill., said Thursday that John M. O'Meara, its chief executive officer, has been elected chairman as well. He succeeded his brother, Robert P. O'Meara, who is now the vice chairman.

Robert M. Pardes has resigned as the chief lending officer of OceanFirst Bank in Toms River, N.J., and the president of its troubled mortgage unit, Columbia Home Loans LLC of Valhalla, N.Y.

Harleysville National Corp. had gone three years without making an acquisition before striking what it described as the "perfect" deal Wednesday.

Attorneys for the Pennsylvania Banking Department and the state's Department of Banking told the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that bankers ought to end their legal challenge to credit unions' tax exemption and pursue legislation instead.

WASHINGTON - An effort to grant automakers and other commercial firms a waiver from a ban on commercially owned industrial loan companies is facing increasing scrutiny.

PL Capital Group of Naperville, Ill., has voiced its opposition to proposed changes in the stock option plans of Lake Shore Bancorp Inc. of Dunkirk, N.Y.

MIDWEST

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Pittsfield, Mass., moved closer Tuesday to its goal of becoming a regional banking company with a deal to enter Vermont.