Weakened growth prospects and more regulatory hoops could prompt private equity firms to unload bank holdings.

CFS II, the collection company founded by industry maverick Bill Bartmann, is reviewing three states - Nevada, North Carolina and Illinois - as a potential location for a 40,000-square-foot call center site that eventually could provide 2,000 jobs.

Target Corp. said it will again suspend its efforts to sell its credit-card receivables portfolio until later this year and outlined plans to pay JPMorgan Chase & Co. about $2.8 billion, along with a make-whole premium, to retire financing it received in 2008.

IMGCAP(1)]

BancorpSouth Inc. in Tupelo, Miss., on Tuesday reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and hopes to parlay the good news into a successful capital-raising effort.

The purchase of Wilmington Trust is starting to pay off, and M&T is in "great shape" to make other acquisitions if spots a good target, CFO Rene Jones says.

Cost cuts "certainly won't be the primary driver for earnings in the future," says CFO Timothy Sloan. CEO John Stumpf says Wells Fargo is "kicking lots of tires" for potential acquisitions.

Despite challenges finding a buyer, Citigroup still wants to get rid of its OneMain consumer lending business, CFO John Gerspach told reporters on Tuesday.

Dozens of small banks in California remain under enforcement actions, leading some industry observers to predict an impending wave of regulator-led consolidation.

Recent increases in bank stock values and the investment bank's success last year make William Hickey "guardedly optimistic," he says.

Mariner Real Estate Management, a Kansas real estate investment and management firm, has acquired a 25% stake in a loan portfolio totaling about $101 million from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

RDK Collection Services Inc., a collection agency with offices in Troy Mich. and Scottsdale, Ariz., announced Tuesday that it has acquired Automated Collection Systems Inc. (ACS), based in Southfield, Mich. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

M&T Bank Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 28% as the regional bank reported higher expenses related to its May acquisition of Wilmington Trust, though revenue and credit quality continued to improve.

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. (PRA), a Norfolk, Va.-based debt buyer and collections giant, on Monday announced it has acquired Mackenzie Hall Holdings Ltd., a large UK debt collection and purchasing group.

NCO Group Inc. is expanding the work force at its Charleston, W.Va. contact center.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., has agreed to buy the trust operations of Suburban Bank & Trust Co. in Elmhurst, Ill.

Chief John A. Kanas has hired Goldman Sachs Inc. to help it find a buyer, according to news reports. Reasons for selling a bank that has outlined big growth plans puzzles observers.

First Niagara Financial Group CEO John Koelmel discusses his deal to sell 37 branches in New York to KeyCorp, his plans to sell more branches and his argument that its bigger deal with HSBC will pay off.

Shares of the thinly traded First California Financial Group Inc. soared Friday after it was disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the wealthy owners of the Minnesota Twins baseball club have acquired a large stake in the banking company and are pushing for its sale.

New data show that banks that sold large sales to dispose of nonperforming assets have seen stock price gains that surpass other banking companies. The approach still has a fair share of opponents who prefer to work out the assets over time.