S&T Bancorp, a Pennsylvania community banking company, has started an investment advice subsidiary and says it plans to buck conventional wisdom by launching a proprietary mutual fund next year.

AmeriServ Financial Inc. in Johnstown, Pa., will take a charge of $10 million to $11 million this quarter, because of penalties associated with prepaying Federal Home Loan Bank advances.

A Denver certificate of deposit broker is trying to pair investors with banks in hurricane-ravaged areas that could use the money, but so far it has been slow going.

Community Bancorp of Nevada said it has closed a $20 million private placement of trust-preferred securities.

Northway Financial Inc. in Berlin, N.H., plans to merge its two banking subsidiaries and name the combined entity Northway Bank.

Fidelity Investments says it plans to expand distribution of its 401(k) services through better penetration with advisers at banks.

CCF Holding Co. of Jonesboro, Ga., announced Monday that it would take an $835,000 charge this quarter because a property in its real-estate-owned holdings lost value.

The one-branch Paragon Commercial Corp. of Raleigh plans to open its second branch 170 miles away, in Richmond, Va.

Despite a victory in the early rounds of a debate over Michigan's corporate taxes, bankers are keeping a wary eye on the capital as the governor and the Legislature negotiate a compromise.

In 2003, right after Gold Banc Corp. announced that it wanted to sell 12 branches in central Kansas, Leonard Wolfe received two phone calls.

Tower Bancorp Inc. of Greencastle, Pa., has agreed to buy FNB Financial Corp. of McConnellsburg for $31.2 million in cash and stock.

After Hurricane Katrina leveled much of the Gulf Coast, bankers in the hardest-hit areas cited the inability to communicate with key employees as one of the biggest obstacles to getting banks up and running again.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., of Melrose Park, Ill., announced Thursday that regulators have lifted the enforcement order under which it had been operating since March of last year.

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity in Arlington, Va., has a distinct mission: helping owners of the smallest businesses build credit histories, so they can qualify for traditional bank loans.

Under new ownership, California Savings Bank in San Francisco is expanding beyond its traditional thrift roots in search of bigger profits.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Seven years after it went public, United Tennessee Bankshares Inc. in Newport says it can no longer justify the expense and plans to go private.

Banks mostly owned by Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans grew faster than mainstream banks last year, and the trend is expected to continue as the minority population grows.