Someday there may no longer be such a thing as an alternative payment.This year, there have been several acquisitions or product changes that take alternatives and combined them with a company or product that handles payments in person.

The Buffalo bank completed three debt and equity offerings as part of its revised plan to pay for nearly 200 HSBC branches.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston said it will start listing its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Southwest Bancorp Inc. in Stillwater, Okla., has sold off roughly $300 million of problem loans in a move its chief executive said is a major step toward achieving its goal of sustained profitability.

Credit Suisse AG said Thursday it will merge its global foreign exchange and emerging markets fixed-income businesses from the start of 2012.

First Farmers Financial Corp. agreed late Wednesday to acquire First Citizens of Paris Inc.

The Town Council in Merrillville, Indiana is reviewing whether to hire a collection agency to help recover up to $1.9 million in ambulance bills that remain unpaid years after the town disbanded its Emergency Management Services.

Asta Funding, an Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based debt buyer, reported Wednesday that net income for fiscal year ended Sept. 30, rose 236% to $10.5 million.

One day Ed, CEO of the local community bank, was in his office waiting for the start of the most dispirited board meeting in his bank’s 100-plus year history. As he waited, Ed began reminiscing about his first day at the bank, when he began working as an office boy at age twelve.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA this afternoon approved the combination of Treasure State Corporate CU in Montana and Kansas Corporate CU, one of seven corporate mergers pending.

United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio, said Wednesday that it raised about $2 million from selling 1.6 million shares of common stock to an unnamed investor.

State Bancorp Inc. in Jericho, N.Y., said Wednesday that it redeemed $36.8 million of preferred stock issued to the Treasury Department as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Sturgis Bancorp Inc. in Michigan is suspending dividend payments to shareholders because management believes its strategy for propping up capital ratios by shrinking assets is no longer viable.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC made two critical decisions for the future of the bank, announcing the return Jan. 9 of its Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio and disclosing that The Co-operative Group has been chosen as preferred bidder for a 632-branch network being sold by the bank.

Just when you thought all-stock deals were kaput, three recent deals proved otherwise. But they won't work for everybody in today's volatile markets.

RedRidge Finance Group said Wednesday that its RFG Fund I LLC acquired a majority interest in Excel Finance Holding Co., a consumer and auto loan provider.

Two independent advisory firms are recommending that shareholders at Brooklyn Federal Bancorp Inc. in New York vote in favor of the thrift company's plan to merge with Investors Bancorp Inc. of Short Hills, N.J.

As part of its ongoing effort to shed non-core assets, Citigroup Inc. is selling off its remaining stake in life insurer Primerica Inc.

WASHINGTON – The FDIC said today it approved the acquisition of Griffith (Indiana) Savings Bank by United FCU of St. Joseph, Mich., the first bank to be acquired by a credit union.

Shareholders for Herald National Bank of New York have until Dec. 21 to decide how they want to get paid in the proposed merger with BankUnited Inc. of Miami Lakes, Fla.