Georgetown Bancorp in Massachusetts has raised $11 million and completed its conversion to a stock-owned firm from a mutual holding company.

Vintage Bancorp, in Leon, Kan., on Wednesday canceled its deal for CornerBank, in Winfield, Kan.

The pace of bank mergers slowed in the second quarter, but deal announcements still rose about 15% in the first half from a year earlier, according to SNL Financial.

An unsolicited offer by PacWest added jet fuel to the shares of First California, strengthening its hand in a takeover deal of its own and bolstering management's effort to stay independent.

First California Financial Group (FCAL) has reduced by 38% the number of shares it would pay to acquire Premier Service Bank in Riverside, Calif.

Ocala Funding LLC, a financing vehicle used and controlled by failed Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in Florida.

Fidelity National Financial's ServiceLink division acquired DRI Management Systems, while simultaneously rebranding DRI's default servicing workflow platform, in a deal announced Tuesday.

Universal Business Payment Solutions Acquisition (UBPS) has agreed to pay $179 million for three firms that process payments for small businesses.

1st Security Bank of Washington, a troubled former credit union known until 2004 as Washington's CU, announced this afternoon it raised $32.4 million with an initial public offering, the latest credit union-convert to go public.

Deposits are worth buying if you get them at a good price and are making loans, says Stephen Gordon, the chairman and CEO of Opus Bank, which agreed this week to buy 10 branches from PacWest for a 2.5% premium.

Amalgamated Bank in New York is continuing its product line expansion with the addition of a home mortgage division.

Printing and marketing materials provider Taylor Corp. will enter the mortgage industry with its acquisition of servicing documentation provider Venture Encoding.

Taylor Capital Group (TAYC) in Chicago is registering 20.6 million shares of its stock to make it easier for certain shareholders to sell the securities.

HomeTrust Bank in Asheville, N.C., is set to raise up to $211.6 million as it converts to a stock-owned bank from a mutual thrift.

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State regulators this afternoon approved the merger of Massachusetts State Employees CU, a troubled one-time $77 million credit union in Boston, into giant Metro CU in adjacent Chelsea, Mass.

Matthew Wagner, the company's CEO, says a decision to sell 10 branches to Opus Bank will help the usually acquisitive PacWest cut costs.

The Treasury Department will auction off its stakes in a dozen more banks as it works to aggressively wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The pressure to merge is strong. But plenty of small banks are still viable, and rushing to do a deal could be just as risky as waiting.

Regulators became cautious about approving bank deals after the financial crisis, but now some buyers are getting approval to close their transactions more quickly.