Horizon Bancorp in Michigan City, Ind., has agreed to buy Heartland Bancshares Inc. of Franklin, Ind., in an all-stock deal valued at $14 million.

Liberty Bell Bank has been fighting battles with a former chairman for more than five years. Last month, the bank filed to form a bank holding company, just months after the activist investor was rounded up by U.S. marshals for allegedly defrauding elderly people around Philadelphia.

CapStar Bank in Nashville announced late Thursday that it has struck a deal to acquire the $169 million American Security Bank & Trust Co. in Hendersonville, Tenn., for a mix of cash and stock.

How is Wells Fargo & Co.'s $15 billion deal for Wachovia Corp. three years ago working out for the San Francisco company? Really, really well, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Timothy Sloan said Thursday.

Private-equity firms complain about the government dragging its feet in approving their bank deals, but the investors in ECB Bancorp may have found a silver lining.

The government-owned Ally Financial has issued an offering book on Residential Capital Corp. in the hope that it can finally unload its money-losing mortgage division and take the rest of the company public, according to investment bankers familiar with the matter.

The Federal Reserve Board has approved Hana Financial Group Inc.'s acquisition of indirect controlling interests in two U.S. units of Korea Exchange Bank.

Asta Funding Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., reported financial results for the its fiscal first quarter ended December 31, led by an increase in net income and drops in revenue and total cash collections.

First Financial Service has agreed to sell four of its branches in Indiana as the Elizabethtown, Ky., company works to increase its capital ratios to meet a consent order.

ECB Bancorp Inc.'s plan to raise $80 million from private-equity groups and institutional investors has been put hold because regulators have yet to approve the pact.

The gap between healthy banks and those that remain in the doldrums will fuel acquisition activity in the coming years, a Virginia investment management firm predicts.

Capital One Financial Corp.'s agreement to buy ING Direct USA is on track to close this quarter even though the Federal Reserve Board delayed consideration Wednesday, Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Fairbank said.

With numerous attractive institutions and robust growth markets, the state could kickstart a round of traditional deals nationwide. The only problem? Texas bankers also know they're attractive, and the most comely banks aren't interested in low-priced dates.

Failure has been the most common way out of enforcement actions in the current cycle, but outcomes may be improving.

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday unexpectedly postponed its meeting to discuss Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion deal for ING Direct USA until next week.

Investors in Washington Mutual Inc.'s trust-preferred securities and die-hard litigants pursuing cases stemming from the largest collapse in U.S. banking history are readying for a last-ditch fight against the company's $7 billion Chapter 11 plan.

NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it sold $6.2 billion in risky residential mortgage securities to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in its second bulk sale from a portfolio taken on during the 2008 bailout of American International Group.

Synovus Financial Corporation's announcement Tuesday that it intends to issue new debt to pay off old debt has prompted one analyst to downgrade its stock.

In an improving economy, many of the policies and procedures that were imposed on banks in 2008 have become counterproductive, and are hurting rather than helping the industry.

Ally Financial's Residential Capital mortgage unit is in talks with potential buyers and is considering using a pre-packaged bankruptcy to facilitate a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.