Two midwestern banks received low Community Reinvestment Act ratings from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Liberty Savings Bank in Missouri said Friday that it has completed its secondary stock offering, paving the way for a "second-step" conversion from a mutual holding company structure to a 100% stock-owned company.

Patriot National Bank in Stamford, Conn., intends to use its pending purchase of a Manhattan branch as a base for expansion in New York State, said Charles F. Howell, its president and chief executive officer.

Sunshine State Credit Union in Tallahassee, Fla., will try a second time to convert to a mutual savings bank, officials said last week.

PremierWest Bancorp in Medford, Ore., said Thursday that it earned $3.8 million in the second quarter, up 17.5% from the year-earlier period. Diluted earnings per share rose 22%, to 22 cents.

Even in a market as fiercely competitive as Florida, Orion Bancorp Inc. stands out.

Woodforest National Bank in Texas will ride Wal-Mart's coattails into 70 Ohio stores beginning next month.

Officials at Centrue Financial Corp. and UnionBancorp Inc. offer a pretty simple explanation for merging the two Illinois companies: being able to operate more efficiently and having deeper pockets to expand.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Continuing its aggressive expansion in its home state, Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. of San Antonio announced Monday that it had agreed to buy the $1.1 billion-asset Summit Bancshares Inc. of Fort Worth for about $366 million in cash and stock.

F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., announced Friday that its president and chief executive, Stephen J. Gurgovits, will step down Dec. 31, 2008.

Best known as a mortgage lender, Flagstar Bancorp Inc. in Troy, Mich., is trying to make a bigger name for itself in retail banking.

BCSB Bankcorp Inc. of Baltimore announced that it would take an after-tax charge of $6.9 million, or $1.18 a share, for its fiscal third quarter, which ended Friday, because of losses from a check-kiting scheme.

Old National Bancorp, which has not bought a bank since 2000, is embracing the time-tested acquisition strategy of courting potential targets.

‘Career Plaintiff’ at the Ready for Telemarketers

(From The Credit Union Journal)

Castle Creek Capital LLC, a merchant banking organization in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., has agreed to buy The Bank in Melbourne, Fla., for about $45 million.