Northwest Bancorp Inc. of Warren, Pa., announced an acquisition deal that would double its branch count in the Baltimore area.

Between 1997 and 2004, Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. of Lititz, Pa., focused its expansion efforts within its home state, buying banks in Pottstown, York, Everett, and Bryn Mawr. Now it is looking farther afield.

Provident Bankshares Corp. in Baltimore announced revised earnings data Tuesday for the first, second, and third quarters of this year and all of 2004.

KNBT Bancorp Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa., announced Tuesday that it is acquiring Paragon Group Inc. of Allentown, Pa., which owns Trust Co. of Lehigh Valley.

The management of Independence Federal Savings Bank has succeeded in blocking a bid by its largest shareholder to take control of the Washington thrift’s board, but its chief executive, Thomas Batties, is not resting easy.

Brian Hyzdu, the president and chief executive of Service 1st Bank in Stockton, Calif., had so much fun opening it in 1999 that a few years later he started a side business: advising on organizing banks.

The 4-year-old Transcommunity Financial Corp. of Richmond, Va., said it lost $72,000 in the third quarter, only 15% as much as a year earlier.

New York Private Bank and Trust Corp., the parent company of Emigrant Savings Bank, is said to be shopping part of the thrift's branch network, 10 months after a push by Emigrant into online banking.

Malcolm M. "Mick" Aslin is having the last laugh.

Team Financial Inc. in Paola, Kan., said third-quarter earnings slipped 23.5% from a year earlier, to $881,000, partly because it sold its Team Insurance Group Inc. at the end of last year.

Most community bankers view credit unions and regional banks as their chief competitors, but McCall Wilson, the president of Bank of Fayette County in Tennessee, is more concerned about start-up banks.

Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. of Irvine, Calif., said Tuesday that it was appealing a court ruling that bars bankers it recently hired away from Comerica Inc. from using "trade secrets" to solicit Comerica's customers.

Eastern Virginia Bankshares in Tappahannock is consolidating its three bank charters.

Texas United Bancshares Inc. of La Grange said Tuesday that its third-quarter net income surged 72.3% from a year earlier, to $2.7 million.

A company that is usually pretty quiet, UMB Financial Corp., has been quite busy of late.

The executives at American Business Bank in Los Angeles do not think of American as a community bank.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., says it has joined the trend to brokerage outsourcing as a means of cutting costs and focusing on lines of business in which it is expert.

Faced with enormous demand for disaster loans, the U.S. Small Business Administration is asking banks for help.

Factoryville, Pa., is getting a new bank branch, seven months after the only branch in town was closed.