The troubled North Country Financial Corp. of Manistique, Mich., said former chairman and chief executive Ronald G. Ford, who agreed in June to pay $500,000 to settle a class action, has resigned from its board.

Continuing its expansion in the Albany, N.Y., area, First Niagara Financial Group Inc. has acquired a Rensselaer lease-brokerage firm.

United Community Financial Corp. of Youngstown, Ohio, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it added $1.04 million to its loss reserves for a bloc of 13 consumer loans with a value of $6 million that it classified as impaired after a recent portfolio review.

Is the Dallas-Fort Worth area big enough for two banks with similar names?

In an echo of the merger-and-acquisition heyday of the mid- to late 1990s, banks seem more willing to make dilutive deals - those that temporarily reduce per-share earnings - than they had been in the past few years.

After acquiring Retirement Systems Group Inc., Peter Del Col decided he would have to offer more than just 401(k) plans to his roster of community bank clients.

MIDWEST

Placer Sierra Bancshares of Sacramento is buying First Financial Bancorp, the parent of the $324 million-asset Bank of Lodi, for $50 million in cash.

Less than six months after its initial public offering, Signature Bank of New York, which is majority owned by Bank Hapoalim BM, said it is planning its second.

Franklin Bank Corp. in Houston has agreed to acquire Cedar Creek Bancshares Inc. of Seven Points, Tex., for about $22.6 million.

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.