One of the largest community banking companies in southern California is consolidating banks and switching to a state charter to save costs.

Millennium Bankshares Corp. has reached an apparent cease-fire with a shareholder group that had been agitating for the Reston, Va., company's sale.

Confronted with fierce competition for deposits, several banking companies are assigning executives the specific task of bringing in more.

Cadence Financial Corp. in Starkville, Miss., said Monday that it does not expect the sudden departure of Seasons Bancshares Inc.'s president to delay the closing of its deal to buy the Blairsville, Ga., company.

Northeast Bancorp in Lewiston, Maine, said Monday that earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, slipped about 1.4% from a year earlier, to just over $1 million.

With its deal for Piedmont Bancshares Inc. of Atlanta, PrivateBancorp Inc. is following through on its pledge to expand outside the Midwest and into fast-growing southern and western markets.

Five banks in Florida are putting up $385,000 to help fund an ambitious effort to create for-profit community development corporations to redevelop poor areas.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. on Monday reported a 9% year-over-year drop in earnings for its fiscal first quarter, to $10.6 million.

Most start-up banks are having little trouble raising money these days, but some banks targeting African-Americans are proving to be tough sells.

Capitol Federal Financial of Topeka, Kan., said earnings for its fiscal third quarter, which ended June 30, fell 30% from a year earlier, to $11.3 million.

Many banks have sought to attract customers by opening branches in department stores and supermarkets, but one Kentucky banking company is putting a new spin on that old model by building a store in its branch.

PrivateBancorp Inc. of Chicago has agreed to buy the $217 million-asset Piedmont Bancshares Inc. in Atlanta for $46.6 million in cash and stock.

Community Bank System Inc. in DeWitt, N.Y., has a deal to buy ONB Corp. in Clifton Springs for $15.7 million in cash.

Abigail Adams National Bancorp Inc. in Washington said regulators have terminated their enforcement order against its Consolidated Bank and Trust Co. of Richmond, Va.

In its first nine months of operation, an industrial loan company with an unconventional business model has already amassed nearly $200 million of loans and is on pace to exceed its goal of having $282 million of assets by Oct. 31.

Omega Financial Corp. in State College, Pa., is selling three of its branches as part of a refinement of its retail network.

Placer Sierra Bancshares' decision to pull back its commercial real estate lending to focus on higher-yield commercial and industrial loans did not go over well with investors and analysts.

Wilber National Bank in Oneonta, N.Y., is suffering along with its customers from the June floods that wreaked havoc in much of the Northeast.

Federal regulators have taken control of a tiny Philadelphia credit union after a routine examination turned up record-keeping improprieties.

Bradford Bancorp Inc. in Baltimore is buying the $50 million-asset Valley Bancorp in Hunt Valley, Md., for $9.6 million in cash.