A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended December 15.

Daniel Cantara 3rd, an 11-year veteran of First Niagara, will oversee all parts of the Buffalo, N.Y., bank that deal directly with customers.

Arvest Bank, the nation's third-largest privately held bank, agreed to buy 29 branches from Bank of America (BAC).

Community Trust Financial of Ruston, La., has received a $45 million investment from Pine Brook, a New York private-equity firm, the two firms announced Monday.

Bankia SA, the largest Spanish bank due to receive a European bailout, plans to seek buyers for its Florida unit early next year in a sale that may fetch at least $500 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Sterling Financial (STSA) in Spokane, Wash., will buy three branches around Seattle from a unit of Boston Private Financial (BPFH).

Bad debt in Williston, N.D., a town in an oil region in the western part of the state, has reached $434,000, more than triple last year's total of $121,000.

Kevin Cummings makes our list of Community Bankers to Watch as his New Jersey mutual thrift mulls a second-step conversion and possible acquisitions around New York.

A healthy bank preemptively sells. Unspent capital burns a hole in a private-equity investor's pocket. A niche player waves the white flag. These are among six deal scenarios you'll see repeatedly next year.

Investors Bancorp's Kevin Cummings says the mutual thrift is ready to take the next step in its process of converting to a publicly owned company.

After doing two deals in 2012, Investors Bancorp's Kevin Cummings is ready to consider more worthwhile acquisitions.

Investors Bancorp's CEO explains why the company is expanding in the New York area, despite stiff competition from bigger banks.

Some are in new roles, some taking their banks in new directions and others most definitely on the hot seat. All eyes will be on these chief executives in the year ahead.

The rising price of bank targets along the central California coast could make expansion there more difficult, PacWest CEO Matt Wagner recently told investors at a meeting hosted by Sandler O'Neill.

Bank of America has escalated a longstanding dispute with MBIA over securities backed by residential mortgages.

The holding company for AmericanWest Bank in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to repay what PremierWest Bancorp (PRWT) owes the Troubled Asset Relief Program before the banks merge.

Alliance Bankshares (ABVA) has received almost all of the votes it needs to approve its sale to WashingtonFirst Bankshares.

Martin A. Steele will manage its commercial lending, cash management-treasury services and investment services, HomeStreet said Thursday.

First Bank has agreed to sell eight of its 19 branches in Florida to the $521 million-asset HomeBanc in Lake Mary, Fla., First Bank said Thursday. It will also close another three branches, two in Hillsborough County and one in Pasco County.

The nation's largest custody bank said Friday that it has named Karen Peetz president amid a series of executive appointments that take effect Jan. 1.