Taylor Capital Group Inc. is picking its battles in the Chicago market.

For several years California banks have had to deal with skyrocketing costs for workers' compensation insurance because of the continued rise in the cost of claims.

Though Flag Financial Corp. is based in Atlanta, the majority of its assets and branches are still in central and western Georgia, closer to its former home of LaGrange.

Community Capital Bancshares Inc. of Albany, Ga., has purchased the leading mortgage company in Charleston, S.C., and said it plans to start a bank there.

For banks, college age has typically been the point at which young adults start getting treated like prospective customers, a pattern that marketing experts have criticized as out of step with other industries' concerted efforts to gain inroads with brand-savvy adolescents.

Joining a growing list of out-of-state banking companies attracted by Florida's rapid growth, Northwest Bancorp Inc. of Warren, Pa., plans to buy its way into the state with an $11.8 million all-cash deal for a small company outside Miami.

Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. of Irvine, Calif., said Wednesday that it had acquired North American Exchange Co. of Walnut Creek, Calif.

MIDWEST

Community banks that make rural home loans could soon get a much-needed liquidity boost — but they might not like where it is coming from.

To expand its operations in southwestern Indiana, German American Bancorp in Jasper is acquiring the $35.3 million-asset PCB Holding Co. of Tell City for $6.7 million in cash and stock.

UCBH Holdings Inc. in San Francisco plans to enter another Chinese-American market by buying the $164.3 million-asset Pacifica Bancorp Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., for $40.3 million in cash and stock.

Park Bank in Milwaukee is encouraging its employees to just say yes.

In just a year the 40-year mortgage has become the most popular consumer loan product offered by a seven-branch thrift in Hingham, Mass.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is painting the Windy City green.

State National Bancshares Inc. of Fort Worth is acquiring a 21-year-old community bank in Granbury, Tex.

Community Bancorp of Las Vegas has its first acquisition deal; it is buying Bank of Commerce in the suburb of Henderson for $40 million in cash and stock.

Oak Hill Financial Inc. of Jackson, Ohio, has lowered its 2005 profit estimate and raised its loan-loss provision by $4.3 million to reflect recent chargeoffs.

Accessor Capital Management, a Seattle fund company, has found an asset hoard among bank customers that other asset managers shy from - the smallest ones.

While most of the frenzied expansion in Texas is concentrated in the largest markets, First Financial Bankshares Inc. is targeting parts of the state's central and western regions that are much less congested.