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.

After a stock offering fell short of expectations, Sierra Vista Bank (SVBA) in Folsom, Calif., plans to raise about $1.7 million through a securities purchase agreement with Taylor International Fund.

Synovus, a Georgia-based company, and CEO Kessel Stelling should be able to devote more resources to loan growth, industry observers say.

TCF Financial (TCB) in Wayzata, Minn., plans to raise $100 million by selling preferred equity at $25 a share.

The Treasury said Thursday that it should gross about $23.8 million from auctioning stakes in seven participants in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The expected proceeds would represent a 9% discount from the nearly $26 million that the government originally invested in those banks.

MetLife, the global life insurer, said Wednesday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved the company's deal to sell $6.5 billion in deposits from MetLife Bank to GE Capital Retail Bank (GE), GE's consumer-lending arm.

Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga., has sold roughly $530 million of problem assets and expects to take a pretax charge of $155 million tied to the move.

Debt buyer Midland Funding will pay Minnesota $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the state that charged the firm with robo-signing affidavits in collection lawsuits.

BB&T (BBT) has created a new south Texas region and named a longtime employee as its president.

The good cop-bad cop routine works in bank M&A, says Prosperity CEO David Zalman, who misses his "good guy" Dan Rollins, who left for BancorpSouth.

Prosperity Bancshares in Houston sees Oklahoma as a nearby, familiar market with ample growth room and pledges more acquisitions after its $194 million deal for Coppermark Bancshares in Oklahoma City.

Astoria Financial (AF) could be a likely takeover target because of its recent emphasis on multifamily lending and a stock that is trading at a discount.

Amerasia Bank in New York has agreed to buy a troubled community bank in Florida. The $291 million-asset bank will acquire Great Eastern Bank of Florida, says Jimmy Tsai, Amerasia's chief operating officer.