Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill., has agreed to buy Community Financial Shares in Wheaton, Ill.

PacWest needed deposits to fuel its lending machine. Square 1 was drowning in liquidity. Similar deals could be in the works as low-cost deposits become more valuable in light of likely interest-rate increases.

A hedge fund is pressuring Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., to consider spinning off its health savings account division.

Home Bancorp in Lafayette, La., has converted from a federal savings bank to a national bank charter.

The Texas banker, who chaired the ICBA during the financial crisis, feels much better about the regulatory environment for smaller banks. She just wishes that interest rates would finally rise.

The lobbying group's agenda typically includes a general session featuring top regulators. But with the ICBA's Washington Policy Summit two months away, the group opted to steer the focus of its annual convention toward education.

Lawmakers reluctant to offer community banks regulatory relief should consider the empirical evidence of how Dodd-Frank has hurt small lenders — and listen to the federal and state bank regulators calling for changes.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., is looking to raise funds to exit the Small Business Lending Fund.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta has acquired Boyett Agency to serve as the foundation for a new insurance division.

An overlooked issue in the plan to reform Federal Home Loan bank membership could inadvertently jeopardize the local focus of the system by allowing insurance companies to apply for membership in any of the 12 districts.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to buy Square 1 Financial in Durham, N.C.

Popular and FirstBank gained critical branches and deposits in a region where growth is hard to come by. Some observers said it could also benefit the island to have one less competitor.

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A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including Dodd-Frank's impact on small institutions, Fed chair Janet Yellen's handling of attacks on her staff and Bitcoin's public but pseudonymous ledger.

The $1.4 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that it will allow Richard Lashley, a co-founder of PL Capital, to join its board.

Regulators have shut Doral Bank, ending a tumultuous decade for the Puerto Rican bank. The $5.9 billion-asset Doral was the fourth bank to fail this year and the biggest bank to be closed since the $11 billion-asset Westernbank in Puerto Rico was shuttered in April 2010.

Jack Hartings is a vocal proponent of reduced regulation for small banks. But the CEO of Peoples Bank in Ohio wants Washington to force other industries to share the burden of improving cybersecurity and cleaning up after breaches.

First National Community Bancorp in Dunmore, Pa., will pay $1.5 million to resolve issues tied to the Bank Secrecy Act.

BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., is planning to add a former Bank of America executive to its board.

CVB Financial in Ontario, Calif., will take a small hit in the first quarter after repaying a Federal Home Loan Bank advance.