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.

Clifton Savings Bancorp Inc. in New Jersey has announced that the state's supreme court has ruled in its favor in a case brought by the activist investor Lawrence B. Seidman.

Microsoft Corp. has seen the bank branch of the future, and it is Umpqua Bank's flagship branch in the trendy Pearl District of Portland, Ore.

WASHINGTON - Community activists have long argued that credit unions, like banks, should be subject to the Community Reinvestment Act, and on Thursday they unveiled a study that they say bolsters their case.

Baton Rouge may not look enticing on paper -- its average household income is 11% below the nation's, its unemployment rate is comparable to the national one, and its population fell slightly from 2000 to 2003 -- but bankers in Louisiana and elsewhere are lining up to get into the city.

Dime Community Bancshares Inc. said it sold nearly half of its $580 million investment portfolio to gird itself for further interest rate increases.

Northern States Financial Corp. of Waukegan, Ill., said Wednesday that its $619 million-asset Bank of Waukegan has received an enforcement order from state and federal regulators concerning violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.

MIDWEST

Susquehanna Bancshares Inc.'s auto-leasing subsidiary is headed for a $14 million net loss this year, and analysts are clamoring for the company to shut it down. But chairman and chief executive William J. Reuter said he is not about to rush into a decision.

The spring edition of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s quarterly Consumer News, released Tuesday, is aimed at young adults.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued guidance to external auditors Monday to relieve some of the burden for publicly traded companies in complying with the auditing requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

On the advice of their auditors, many community banks have written down the value of their Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock because the stocks have fallen below their purchase prices and there is no telling when they might come back.

SEI Investments Inc. says it wants to increase market share and assets under advisement by developing outsourcing deals with community and small regional banks.

Peoples Financial Corp. in Biloxi, Miss., has revised its first-quarter earnings upward after receiving full payment of a $5.5 million loan that it had previously classified as impaired.

WASHINGTON - Rural America needs more capital to deal with poverty and a dwindling population.

The stock of C&F Financial Corp. of West Point, Va., rose sharply Friday after it announced it was buying back 180,000 - or 5.1% - of its shares at $41 each.

Firstbank Corp. of Alma, Mich., announced Thursday it that it had agreed to buy the 8-year-old Keystone Financial Corp. of Kalamazoo, Mich., for $26.6 million.

Six states have enacted tough data privacy measures in recent weeks and legal experts say that with others likely to follow, it may be time for Congress to create a national standard.

A one-month truce has been called in the fight for Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington, but don’t expect management and the thrift’s largest shareholder to spend that time looking for a compromise solution.