The most notable quotes from American Banker stories of the previous week. Readers are encouraged to add their own observations in the Comments fields at the bottom of each slide.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., has agreed to buy Tower Financial in Fort Wayne.

Simmons First National (SFNC) in Pine Bluff, Ark., had the winning bid to buy Metropolitan National Bank during a bankruptcy auction.

Cardinal Financial Corp. (CFNL) has agreed to buy United Financial Banking (UFBC) for nearly $52 million. The two companies are in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington.

UMB Financial (UMBF) in Kansas City, Mo., is planning a stock sale that could bring in as much as $257 million.

Dallas hedge fund Clover Partners is causing Texas-size headaches for two small Massachusetts thrifts, Hampden Bancorp and Chicopee Bancorp.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended Sept. 7.

Capital Bank Financial in Coral Gables, Fla., has gone more than a year since its last acquisition — a common problem for M&A-minded banks these days. Its leaders urged shareholders to be patient in a sales pitch that other execs in the same bind could learn from.

Umpqua Holdings, Oregon's biggest bank, is in advanced talks to buy Sterling Financial, the lender backed by Warburg Pincus and Thomas H. Lee Partners, said people with knowledge of the discussions.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has approved two Atlantic Coast Financial (ACFC) board nominees proposed by dissident investor Jay Sidhu.

Wilshire Bancorp in Los Angeles said Monday that it had hired Jung Hak Son as its chief marketing officer, a position he took over in 2009.

DETROIT — NCUA said this afternoon the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services liquidated Craftsman CU and appointed the federal credit union agency as liquidating agent for the one-time $44 million auto workers credit union, the year's 12th failure.

Independent Bank Corp. (INDB) and its commercial banking unit, Rockland Trust Co., announced a number of management changes Friday.

A bankruptcy judge's decision to lower breakup fees in the auction of Metropolitan National gives Simmons First and others a chance at unseating stalking horse Ford Financial. The results could encourage more interest in bidding for bank units of bankrupt holding companies.

Consumers are overdrawing their checking accounts an average of seven times per year, down from a peak of nearly 10 overdrafts annually four years ago.

The Federal Reserve System has taken regulatory action against Union City Corp. in El Reno, Okla., and released a Missouri holding company and its banking unit from a written agreement.

The Alabama company is staging a nice comeback from the financial crisis, though concerns still exist over litigation tied to a brokerage unit it sold last year.

Deposit balances have declined for two consecutive quarters, threatening a low-cost source of funding for many institutions. American Banker editors discuss the implications and how bankers are responding.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. As excerpted from the Comments sections of AmericanBanker.com articles.