ESSA Bancorp Inc. in Stroudsburg, Pa., announced early Thursday that it is buying the $421 million-asset First Star Bancorp Inc. in Bethlehem, Pa., for $24.2 million in cash and stock.

eBay announced today that it has acquired Billsafe, a provider of purchase-on-invoice technology in Germany. eBay plans to combine Billsafe with its PayPal subsidiary in Germany.

New Century Bancorp in Dunn, N.C., has agreed to sell two of its branches to Lumbee Guaranty Bank in Pembroke, N.C.

BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., has agreed to buy KeySource Financial Inc. in Durham, N.C., in an all-stock deal valued at $12.2 million.

Bank of America dumped close to $1 billion in credit card assets in two separate deals announced on Wednesday, as part of its effort to slim down and focus on its core business lines.

Bank of America Corp. on Dec. 21 sold $700 million in credit card assets to U.S. Bancorp in the struggling Charlotte, N.C., company’s latest effort to slim down.

First National Bank of Omaha next year will launch three cobranded credit card programs, Steve Eulie, the president of First National's First BankCard credit card division, said.

Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., has notified investors that it is considering raising more capital for the purpose investing in new business lines, bolstering its capital levels and perhaps making acquisitions.

Shares of Republic First Bancorp Inc. soared Wednesday after the Philadelphia company announced that it had sold $59 million of mostly problem real estate loans to a single investor.

Ohio thrift Cheviot Financial, in the process converting to 100% stock-owned company, is giving initial subscribers to its public offering the option to buy up more shares.

Bank of America Corp. sold $700 million in credit card assets to U.S. Bancorp on Wednesday, in the struggling Charlotte company's latest effort to slim down.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has agreed to sell part of a portfolio of its U.K. commercial-real-estate loans to Blackstone Group LP after negotiating financing for the deal, a process drawn out over five months because of the deterioration in funding conditions, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires late Tuesday.

In what would be its first acquisition since 2007, Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. in Olney, Md., announced late Tuesday that it is buying CommerceFirst Bancorp Inc. for $25.4 million in cash and stock.

After several years of bank merger activity trending down, there are signs that the activity level may revive. As this subject may not have been a front burner topic for bankers in recent years, it is useful to consider how changes in the last few years have altered certain strategic priorities for considering mergers.

SCBT's planned acquisition of Peoples Bancorp. in South Carolina is being described as small, safe and strategic. Analysts believe most M&A next year will follow a similar blueprint.

First United Bancorp Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla., is unloading three of the seven western Florida branches it inherited when it acquired the failed Old Harbor Bank in Clearwater in October.

SCBT Financial Corp. in Columbia, S.C., announced Tuesday morning that it is buying the $546 million-asset Peoples Bancorporation Inc. in Easley, S.C., for $28 million in stock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Inc. finished No. 1 in a ranking of global investment banks by revenue in 2011, published by Dealogic Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Monday approved PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s plan to acquire Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. retail-banking unit.

Talmer Bancorp Inc. in Troy, Mich., said Monday that it had completed its acquisition of Lake Shore Wisconsin Corp. in Glenwood City.