The Birmingham, Ala., investment bank has hired John Hamel from Roth Capital Partners and two associates to its group that advises on bank deals. Hamel will report to Robert Hutchinson, head of investment banking for depository institutions.

Mackinac Financial (MFNC) in Manistique, Mich., will raise up to $18 million through a common stock rights offering and a securities purchase agreement with an investor.

Green Bancorp in Houston is bulking up in the Dallas area with a deal to buy Opportunity Bancshares in Richardson, Texas.

Continuing its expansion in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) in Bethesda, Md., has opened a pair of residential loan offices in Maryland and Virginia.

A need for more re-appraisals, combined with an exodus of appraisers following the financial crisis, are causing headaches for bankers. Those factors are costing banks more money and, in some cases, potential clients.

Tompkins Financial in Ithaca, N.Y., is planning to raise $30 million in a secondary stock offering and may use the proceeds to redeem securities issued to VIST Financial through the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The House on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that will allow some small banks to raise additional capital without registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a written agreement with the former Cadence Financial about a year after the Starkville, Miss., company was acquired.

It's time for our nation's leaders to get serious about job creation. Our economy is beginning to inch its way forward toward recovery, but the only way forward to real prosperity for all is through small businesses.

AmericanWest Bank in Spokane, Wash., is deepening its presence in California with plans to acquire Security Business Bank of San Diego.

If TAG is allowed to expire at yearend, it could spur community banks looking for extra liquidity to turn back to FHLB advances, which are at their lowest point in a decade.

Provident New York Bancorp (PBNY) in Montebello has added its fifth commercial banking team in the New York City market since January.

CenterState Banks (CSFL) in Davenport, Fla.., is looking to slim down after spending much of the last three years bulking up through acquisitions.

Capital Bank Financial, a Miami company formed two years ago to buy distressed banks in the Southeast, has struck a deal to acquire Southern Community Financial (SCMF) in Winston-Salem, N.C., for $48.4 million.

No one can ever accuse Steve Huston of being a heartless banker. Huston, the owner of Bankwest Financial in Rockford, Minn., resuscitated Dr. Frank Anderson during a pickup basketball game in January, a local Fox News affiliate reported last week.

The other morning I was at the counter of the local UPS store notarizing a document when I was shocked by a comment by a woman standing nearby. This nationwide franchise provides post office boxes, packing, shipping, copying and many other individual and business-related services through 4,700 convenient small corner or mini-mall stores. My head snapped as she told the clerk, "I would like to make a deposit." At first I thought she was making a deposit for a purchase or on a bill or perhaps depositing a package of goods for shipping.

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BankAtlantic Bancorp (BBX) said in a regulatory filing that it will change its name to BBX Capital as part of its deal to sell its thrift to BB&T (BBT) in Winston-Salem, N.C.

An institutional investor at Broadway Financial (BYFC) has agreed to swap its preferred shares for common stock to help the Los Angeles company attract more capital.

Regulators have lifted an informal agreement with the banking unit of MainSource Financial Group (MSFG) in Greensburg, Ind.