The $5.2 billion-asset company intends to use the proceeds from its sale of subordinated notes for general purposes, it said in a press release Wednesday.

First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has added two directors from recent acquisitions in Columbus, Ohio.

Capital Bank Financial shares a problem with other investor-backed companies built to make a lot of bank acquisitions: their stocks trade at low premiums because they are overcapitalized, but they are unable to deploy their capital in M&A deals because of those low stock values.

Wilcox Bancshares in Grand Rapids, Minn., has purchased Crow River State Bank in Delano, Minn.

Albina Community Bancorp is one of few lenders to recapitalize and sell its bank despite an overhang of trust-preferred debt at the parent company. Still, an investor is threatening to force involuntary bankruptcy — a sign of just how tough it is for banks to escape the trust-preferred trap.

CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., has agreed to sell its mortgage and wealth businesses as it tries to move past its history of high expenses and heavy losses.

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. — SJB Federal Credit Union has merged into Southern Mass Credit Union in Fairhaven, Mass., creating an institution with approximately $207 million in assets.

Yield-seeking investors have fueled a niche bond business that is financing community banks, through the sale of higher-risk, subordinated debt. It is unclear whether the banks need all that capital.

Pilgrim Bancorp. in Mount Pleasant, Texas, has agreed to buy North Central Texas Bancshares in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Compensation, long believed to be the top motivating factor in loan officers' choice of where to hang their licenses, was a runner-up to concerns about professionalism and quality, according to a new survey.

Ron Hermance, chairman and chief executive of Hudson City Bancorp in Paramus, N.J., has died.

National Bank of Commerce in Birmingham, Ala., has purchased a majority interest in CBI Holding Co.

City National Bank of New Jersey has agreed to sell deposits and loans associated with a branch on New York's Long Island to Bethpage Federal Credit Union.

Private-equity firms, as investor-driven organizations, have an obligation to consider cashing out when top-performing bank stocks are doing well, according to James Lockhart, vice chairman and W.L. Ross & Co.

Wilmington Trust Co., a unit of M&T Bank Corp. (MTB), agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims that the bank failed to report construction loans that weren't being repaid.

Brookline Bancorp in Boston plans to raise $75 million by issuing debt.

Auto loans are in the midst of a U.S. boom that is coming to "the end of the road," according to Pierre Lapointe, head of global strategy and research at Pavilion Global Markets.

First Citizens Banc in Sandusky, Ohio, has agreed to buy TCNB Financial in Dayton, Ohio.

Cape Bancorp in Cape May Courthouse, N.J., has agreed to buy Colonial Financial Services in Vineland, N.J.

First Business Financial Services in Madison, Wis., has appointed David Papritz as chief financial officer and senior vice president of corporate development.