Austin Bank of Chicago has come up with some novel answers to the touchy succession questions confronting many community banks.

Though flush with capital after it survived a near-death experience three years ago, City Holding Co. has been in no rush to build assets.

Second-quarter results reported Thursday by TD Banknorth Inc. and Hudson United Bancorp may have buttressed the case for the merger deal they announced this month.

Six weeks ago CityBank of Lynnwood, Wash., was telling investors it planned to build Diligenz Inc. into the nation's premier provider of Uniform Commercial Code-related services.

Like most community banks, Union National Community Bank in Mount Joy, Pa., is constantly on the lookout for low-cost funding.

WESTTemecula Valley Bancorp of Temecula, Calif., has hired Michael J. Curran as its chief risk officer and a senior vice president.

To capitalize on consolidation, a longtime Tennessee banker has set up a fund to invest in start-up banks aiming to capture runoff from merging banks.

Small banks looking for more exposure among investors got a boost when Frank Russell Co. launched a new microcap index last month.

Harleysville National Corp. of Pennsylvania announced Monday that its second-quarter net income increased 3.3%, to $9.7 million.

Thomas A. Bracken, the president and chief executive of the $3.1 billion-asset Sun Bancorp Inc. in Vineland, N.J., was understandably elated when a May deposit promotion brought in $200 million, far more than expected.

Community Banks Inc. in Harrisburg, Pa., which reported a profit of $5.4 million in the second quarter of 2004, reported Monday that it lost $1.1 million in the period this year.

Texas Regional Bancshares Inc. of McAllen announced Monday that its second-quarter net income rose 16%, to $21.9 million.

Three $1 billion-plus bank deals in four weeks. Is the M&A machine back in gear?

Prosperity Bancorp of Houston said Friday that its second-quarter net income totaled $12.2 million, up 46% from a year earlier.

Community Credit Union in Plano, Tex., has filed a lawsuit challenging the National Credit Union Administration's decision this month to invalidate its conversion vote because of concerns about how a disclosure document was folded.

LSB Bancshares Inc. in Lexington, N.C., said Friday that second-quarter earnings had risen 8.7% from the same period last year, to $2.4 million.

The $3.5 billion-asset Glacier Bancorp Inc. in Kalispell, Mont., which bought two banks this year, has a deal for a third: Thompson Falls Holding Co. in Montana, for $21.8 million in cash and stock.

Georgia Bank Financial Corp. in Augusta has ambitions beyond its home state - and has taken new steps to realize them.

Republic Bancorp of Ann Arbor, Mich., said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings were a record $17.5 million, besting the year-earlier period's results by 7%.