In the classes I teach and the speeches I give, I often use humor to make a point. (I also just like to get a laugh). Years later people tell me, "I don't remember anything you talked about, but I remember your jokes."

More and more people are fleeing the expensive California coastal cities for the state's more affordable central valleys, and Tri Counties Bank in Chico is opening branches in hopes of winning their business.

MainSource Financial Group, a multibank holding company in Greenburg, Ind., is combining its four Indiana banking charters into one under the name of its lead bank, MainSource Bank.

A group of Farm Credit Services of America shareholders is trying to block the Omaha lender's sale to Rabobank Group of the Netherlands and keep control of it in the hands of local farmers.

Frustrated in trying to persuade small-business owners to pay taxes online, the Internal Revenue Service is turning to banks for help.

Parkvale Financial Corp. of Monroeville, Pa., announced Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Advance Financial Bancorp of Wellsburg, W.Va., for $38 million in stock.

After buying Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. in Fort Collins, Colo., a group of investors led by John M. Eggemeyer did not waste any time making a second deal to nearly triple Centennial's size.

Volunteer organizations are typically at their best in the aftermath of a disaster, quickly arriving on the scene to provide food, water, shelter, and, sometimes, spiritual counseling.

SOUTHEAST

Dubuque, Iowa, has no trouble attracting students to its three colleges, but like many other small cities and towns, it has a much harder time keeping the students there after they graduate.

Three years ago Harbor Florida Bankshares Inc. in Fort Pierce was struggling to increase earnings, partly because much of its deposits were in certificates of deposit held by customers who did their day-to-day banking elsewhere.

Federated Investors Inc.'s Monday deal for Banknorth Group's fund unit would be the fourth purchase of a small bank's fund group by the Pittsburgh fund company as many look to leave the proprietary fund business.

Civitas Bankgroup Inc. of Franklin, Tenn., is planning to sell its smallest subsidiary, the $8 million-asset Bank of Mason, to a group of investors.

United PanAm Financial Corp. in Newport Beach, Calif., may be delisted from the Nasdaq exchange because of a delay in the filing of second-quarter earnings.

It is probably the oldest conventional wisdom in the industry: Any deal where a bank sells itself to a big out-of-state company is bound to send customers running off to smaller, local competitors.

Lawmakers lack the authority to prevent Rabobank Group of the Netherlands from buying an Omaha lender in the Farm Credit System, a Congressional Research Service report says.

Downey Financial Corp.'s chief executive and president is resigning after just six months on the job, and its former CEO will succeed him.

As acquisition prices go, the $148 million that Westamerica Bancorp. is paying for Redwood Empire Bancorp would rank only 40th among this year's bank deals.

United Community Banks Inc., a multibank holding company in Blairsville, Ga., plans to buy Liberty National Bancshares Inc. in Conyers for $36.1 million in cash and stock.