MIDWESTDelaware Place Bank of Chicago has hired Dean D. Lawrence as its senior vice president of commercial real estate lending.

The Small Business Administration's flagship 7(a) lending program enjoyed a record fiscal year, in which it guaranteed more loans for more money than ever before.

Facing mounting pressure from an activist shareholder, Sovereign Bancorp Inc. spent the weekend in late-stage talks that culminated Monday with a deal to sell a significant equity stake to Banco Santander Central Hispano SA.

The battle to buy Great Eastern Bank in New York intensified Monday as one of its two California suitors increased its offer.

After selling a profitable technology subsidiary for a tidy sum, City Bank in Lynnwood, Wash., had so much cash to spare that it passed on $30 million to shareholders.

Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. in Irvine, Calif., is expanding in northern California by buying Calnet Business Bank for about $40 million in stock.

Unizan Financial Corp. of Canton, Ohio, said Friday that it earned $5.7 million in the third quarter, up 14% from the second quarter and 98% from a year earlier.

Republic Bancorp Inc. of Louisville announced Friday that its third-quarter earnings rose 18%, to $8.1 million.

First Charter Corp. in Charlotte has always had ties to churches, providing them with building loans and other types of financing.

Fidelity Southern Corp. in Atlanta said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it would consider a merger or acquisition in the near future.

Iberiabank Corp. in Lafayette, La., reported a third-quarter loss of $1.3 million after it substantially boosted its loan-loss provision to cover expected defaults from customers affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Chittenden Corp. of Burlington, Vt., reported a 10% increase in third-quarter net income, to $21.7 million, as well as an increased net interest margin, continued low chargeoffs, and its lowest efficiency ratio in five years.

For years after its founding in 1977, County Bank of Merced, Calif., hummed along as a tiny community bank, serving farmers and mom-and-pop businesses in and around the small San Joaquin Valley town.

Provident Bankshares Corp. in Baltimore announced Thursday third-quarter earnings rose 11% from a year earlier, to a record $20 million.

Five weeks after opening its first branch in Lynchburg, Va., American National Bankshares Inc. has agreed to buy a community bank that is headquartered there.

Amalgamated Bank in New York appointed its outside counsel, Derrick Cephas, to be its president and chief executive Wednesday, succeeding the retiring Gabriel Caprio.

Under normal circumstances, Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Co. in New Orleans would not temporarily finance a small company's payroll or allow a business customer to defer loan payments for several months.

Gold Banc Corp. in Leawood, Kan., will pay the Internal Revenue Service nearly $3.5 million of taxes on interest it received on multifamily revenue bonds purchased in 2001 and 2002.

CNB Financial Corp. of Clearfield, Pa., plans to expand into Erie next year by creating a separately branded unit of its $750 million-asset County National Bank.