Taylor Capital Group of Rosemont, Ill., has hired seven commercial lenders away from four of its competitors.

M&T Bank Corp. of Buffalo has applied for a bank charter in New Jersey.

FirstBank NW Corp.'s rejection of a private investment group's unsolicited $112 million offer so it could shop for higher bids paid off handsomely when the Clarkston, Wash., company struck a deal that would pay its shareholders 51% more.

Hamstrung by state limits on the amount of municipal deposits a state-chartered thrift can accept, Bank of Greene County in Catskill plans to convert to a federal charter.

With its deal for GBC Bancorp Inc. in suburban Atlanta, First Charter Corp. of Charlotte is taking a big step toward building a regional franchise stretching from Virginia to Georgia.

The 100-year-old Labe Bank in Chicago has taken pride in being an urban bank that speaks the languages of its immigrant customers.

Citizens First Corp. of Bowling Green, Ky., has agreed to buy the $110 million-asset Kentucky Banking Centers Inc. of Glasgow for $20 million in cash.

With this week marking the start of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, the American Bankers Association has unveiled policy recommendations from its task force on hurricane preparedness.

Laredo National Bank’s newest mortgage program is targeting soon-to-be-retiring baby boomers who dream of owning resort property along Mexico’s beaches.

First Farmers Bank and Trust of Converse, Ind., has agreed to acquire three branches from the $107 billion-asset Fifth Third Bancorp, of Cincinnati.

Jose A. Infante resigned this week as the chairman, president, and chief executive of the $225 million-asset Community Shores Bank Corp. of Muskegon, Mich., and joined Independent Bank West Michigan of Grand Rapids as a senior vice president.

Glacier Bancorp Inc. in Kalispell, Mont., has made its first deal for a Utah bank.

The National Credit Union Administration’s abrupt decision to delay the release of a highly anticipated final rule underscores the agency’s awkward position in the debate over credit union expansion into underserved areas.

Mercantile Bancorp Inc. of Quincy, Ill., said it had agreed to buy Royal Palm Bancorp Inc. of Naples, Fla., for $44.4 million in cash.

NEW ENGLAND

America's Community Bankers said it has added 15 banking stocks to its Nasdaq bank index.

Here's an unusual way to capture the attention of potential customers: Advertise without mentioning your bank's name.

First Mariner Bancorp in Baltimore took a chance on a business line that many other banking companies were exiting when it established its consumer finance unit, Finance Maryland, in 2002.

Gateway Financial Holdings Inc. in Elizabeth City, N.C., is counting on its new mortgage unit to boost its sluggish performance ratios.