The $4.5 billion-asset First Citizens Bancorp. Inc. of Columbia, S.C., has its third acquisition deal in its home state in recent months.

The "R" word, retirement, means big changes for top-level bankers. Some wonder why they didn't quit sooner. Others get a rude awakening.

Mackinac Financial Corp. of Manistique, Mich., said Monday that its North Country Bank and Trust has been renamed mBank.

The new slogan for South Carolina's Coastal Federal Bank, "The Carolinas' Most Convenient Bank," has a familiar ring to it.

Main Street Banks Inc. of Atlanta on Monday guided Wall Street estimates lower for first-quarter and full-year 2005 earnings, blaming a number of issues.

In Maryland, where bank robberies surged last year, lawmakers are considering a bill that would impose stiffer sentences on the perpetrators.

Since joining Integra Bank Corp. in Evansville, Ind., nearly six years ago, Michael T. Vea has spent nearly his entire tenure restructuring it.

Experts are urging small community banks to keep Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on their front burners even though the Securities and Exchange Commission has given them another year to comply with its provisions.

Add ASB Financial Corp. in Portsmouth, Ohio, to the list of small, publicly traded banking companies deciding to go private to escape Securities and Exchange Commission reporting requirements.

Gerard M. Banmiller generally scorns what he calls "relentlessly positive" ads that breathlessly hype convenience or service.

Independent Bank Group Central Texas Inc. of Waco is acquiring the $28 million-asset First FSB Bancshares Inc. of Mount Calm and its two subsidiary banks.

Capitol Bancorp Inc. of Lansing, Mich., said this week that it plans to open a bank in Fort Collins, Colo., in midyear.

A custodian for individual retirement accounts has been making the rounds of investor meetings of would-be banks, and persuading many attendees to invest in the start-ups through their IRAs.

SOUTHEAST

Pacific Capital Bancorp in Santa Barbara, Calif., is buying First Bancshares Inc. in San Luis Obispo for $60.8 million in cash.

My Jan. 5 column on how banks can work with schools and colleges drew some useful suggestions from bankers.

Because its previous strategy of lending to insurance agencies around the country produced nothing but losses, a small Indiana thrift is taking a different tack.