The $4.4 billion-asset bank holding company based in Dubuque, Iowa said Thursday it would buy Heritage Bank in Phoenix for $16 million in cash.

Many community banks could find themselves in the same dilemma as LNB in Ohio, which is weighing the pleas of activist shareholder Umberto Fedeli to repurchase its Tarp shares from private investors. It has to choose between paying higher dividends or a costly capital raise.

The Consumer Bankers Association has elected Iberiabank executive Bob Kottler as its new chairman for 2013, the group said in a press release Thursday.

Growth in business lending by commercial banks remained brisk in the third quarter according to preliminary data, but continued to slide from a recent peak.

The Sunshine State is on its third banking commissioner — Drew Breakspear — in slightly more than a year.

Viable restructuring alternatives to bank holding company debt do exist and will open the door to conventional M&A options or attract fresh equity.

Unable to find an acquisition or other expansion opportunity that it likes, Trinity Bank in Fort Worth, Texas, will pay a special onetime dividend to shareholders.

Flushing Savings Bank has filed an application with regulators to combine with its subsidiary, Flushing Commercial Bank, under a New York commercial bank charter.

MLV & Co. Financial has struck a deal to buy a stake in an investment advisor in Connecticut and promises more acquisitions to come.

Proclaim the beliefs you would fight for – the essence of what differentiates your bank from others – then carefully ensure that every action, from your marketing, to your interactions and behaviors, matches those values.

The parent of $13 billion-asset PrivateBank said Wednesday it has begun a public offering of roughly $75 million of its common stock and announced plans to hold a separate public offering of $125 million in subordinated debt.

BankUnited (BKU) is gearing up for branch openings in New York despite being barred by a settlement with Capital One Financial from opening the branches until next year.

Signature, a New York bank led by frugal CEO Joseph DePaolo, is laser-focused on commercial clients and niche lines in an age when others are trying to be all things to all people.

NBT Bancorp's agreement to buy Alliance Financial in New York is an M&A rarity — a sizable deal between healthy seller that could signal more such transactions to come.

Banks have recovered maybe $1 billion in tax assets written down because of doubts about future profitability. As third quarter reports approach, that leaves more than $5 billion to go.

Kaiser Federal Bank in Covina, Calif., will be renamed Simplicity Bank, beginning Nov. 13, the bank's holding company said Tuesday.

Pinnacle Bank of Lincoln, Neb., would expand its presence in the Show Me State with its agreement to buy First State Bank of Joplin, Mo.

1st Constitution Bancorp (FCCY) in Cranbury, N.J., has raised roughly $5 million through a rights offering.

Robert M. Wilson, the president and chief executive of Cambridge Savings Bank, will resign from the Massachusetts company after having taken a medical leave earlier this year.

LCNB (LCNB) in Lebanon, Ohio, would expand into two new counties with its agreement to buy First Capital Bancshares in Chillicothe, Ohio, for roughly $19.6 million in stock and cash.