The board of Cardinal Bankshares in Floyd, Va., issued a letter defending the company and management after an activist investor threatens to defy the establishment.

Prepaid marketer NetSpend Holdings Inc., which recently lost some crucial distribution partners, has rebounded with 7-Eleven Inc.

First ULB Corp., the Oakland, Calif., parent company for United Labor Bank, has filed to hold an initial public offering.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced a prompt corrective action against Anchor Commercial Bank in Juno Beach, Fla., after the bank failed to provide the Fed with an acceptable capital restoration plan.

TCF Financial said Thursday that it is acquiring Gateway One Lending & Finance, an Anaheim, Calif., company that uses its relationships with more than 3,100 dealers to make car loans to consumers in 30 states.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. said Thursday it will acquire about $185 million of deposits and a branch in suburban Chicago from Old National Bancorp.

So 10 lawyers and an investment banker got together in a room at AmericanWest … No, it's not a joke. They helped revitalize a troubled bank and now have an award from the Turnaround Management Association to prove it.

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.

IMGCAP(1)]

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.