Wells Fargo & Co. has bolstered its mergers and acquisitions group with the hiring of two new managing directors.

TowneBank in Suffolk, Va., is buying a Raleigh, N.C., insurance agency and merging it into its insurance subsidiary.

Dimon calls market volatility a fact of life, discusses cost-cutting efforts, says no major layoff is planned and supports protestors outside his home in conference call Thursday.

American Momentum Bank is committed to buying Brazos Valley Bank in College Station, Texas, though it swapped out its application with the Federal Reserve.

ATBancorp in Dubuque has agreed to invest an initial $10 million in United American Bank in San Mateo and will receive warrants to the acquire the bank's 2.5 million shares, at 30 cents each, over the next five years.

ECB Bancorp Inc. in Engelhard, N.C., said Thursday that its shareholders had approved several proposals that were needed for the company's $80 million private placement.

The $47 million price tag could rise or fall depending on fluctuations in the Illinois community bank's tangible book value. It's another sign of how parties to bank deals are trying to protect themselves in uncertain economic times.

Sabal Financial Group L.P. of Newport Beach, Calif., has acquired a $153 million portfolio of loans located in some of the hardest hit regions of the United States.

Park Bancorp Inc. in Chicago said Tuesday that it had hired an investment bank to help it explore its strategic options, including a possible sale.

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New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares Inc., the parent of Lake Sunapee Bank, is entering the insurance business with its buy of McCrillis and Eldredge Insurance.

First Financial Corp.'s willingness to pay nearly double the tangible book value for Freestar Bank outside of Chicago is the most expensive small bank deal in months.

Regions Financial Corp. has narrowed the bidders for its Morgan Keegan securities unit down to two, The Financial Times reported late Monday. The Blackstone Group L.P. and the Carlyle Group have joined forces, and Thomas H. Lee Partners is the other, the paper reported.

FNB United Corp. is another step closer to completing its proposed acquisition of Bank of Granite Corp. after receiving approval for the deal from the Federal Reserve of Richmond.

First Financial Corp. in Terre Haute, Ind., is bulking up in Illinois with a deal to acquire Freestar Bank in Pontiac for $47 million.

Online account opening provider Andera Inc. announced Tuesday that it has acquired oFlows Inc.

Royal Bank of Canada is in "advanced talks" to buy out Dexia from its partnership in RBC Dexia Investor Services as the European bank seeks to shed assets, The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday, citing comments by Luxembourg's finance minister at a press conference late Monday.

Banco Popular Espanol SA, the second-best-performing Spanish bank stock this year, has offered to buy Banco Pastor SA.

Two failures late Friday - one in Minnesota and one in Missouri = cost the Deposit Insurance Fund nearly $190 million.

Chaotic stock markets are complicating bank deals like Brookline's planned purchase of Bancorp Rhode Island. Brookline extended for the second time the deadline for the seller's shareholders to decide how they will be paid.