MIDWEST

The Greenlining Institute, best known for holding banks’ feet to the fire on issues such as mortgage lending to minorities, has recently taken up a new cause in California: turning minority farmworkers into farm owners.

Waccamaw Bankshares Inc. of Whiteville, N.C., said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it is buying the $20 million-asset Bank of Heath Springs in South Carolina for $8 million in cash.

Rurban Financial Corp. in Defiance, Ohio, announced late Monday that it had completed the sale of $8.4 million of troubled loans for 84.6% of their book value.

Banks trying to promote their brand these days - especially outside of their primary markets - might do so by buying the naming rights to a local sports stadium or convention center.

GB&T Bancshares Inc. in Gainesville, Ga., has a deal to acquire an Atlanta-area start-up that would become the multi-bank holding company's seventh subsidiary.

A New Jersey community banking company has received Federal Reserve permission to boost to nearly 25% its stake in a local rival - many of whose investors and customers told the Fed they oppose the plan.

A hurricane tax-relief bill the Senate passed before adjourning for its Christmas vacation contained a bank industry-supported provision to amend a year-old law on subchapter S corporations.

With some New Orleans banks struggling in the face of potential loan defaults and chargeoffs, a group of Louisiana bankers has applied to charter a new bank in the city.

Cathay General Bancorp Inc. of Los Angeles has received approval from the New York State Banking Department to acquire up to 100% of the shares of the $310 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York City.

TransCommunity Financial Corp. of Richmond, Va., said its chairman and chief executive, William C. Wiley, will leave when his two-year contract expires Dec. 31.

The $1.17 billion-asset Center Bancorp Inc. of Union, N.J., has joined the tide of community banking companies restructuring their balance sheets.

Rabobank Group's bold bid to buy one of the Farm Credit System's largest lenders collapsed more than a year ago, but regulators clearly have not forgotten about it.

Despite repeated rejections, TrustCo Bank Corp NY of Glenville is not giving up on its bid to buy Ballston Spa Bancorp.

Gateway Financial Holdings Inc. of Virginia Beach said Friday that it plans to raise $30 million in a secondary stock offering and use part of the proceeds to fund branch expansion.

The Treasury Department has extended the application deadline for its Community Development Financial Institutions grants so applicants can become better acquainted with a new online process.

First Community Bancorp in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., has been expanding mainly through bite-size acquisitions since it was founded in 2000, but on Thursday its struck its biggest deal ever.

Community bankers are hoping that the Securities and Exchange Commission will adopt an advisory panel's recommendations to give small companies relief from the internal-controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Facing increased criticism over the Small Business Administration's response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes, SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto defended his agency's performance Thursday and praised the work of its employees.