First Defiance Financial (FDEF) in Defiance, Ohio, has agreed to buy First Community Bank in Columbus, Ohio.

The company's management team is confident it can build off a beachhead, making its case by referencing past forays into Baton Rouge, La., and Houston.

Mergers and acquisitions have gained steam in early 2014. Here is a rundown of the whole-bank deals, shedding of noncore businesses and swapping of securities so far this year.

First Financial Holdings (SCBT) in Columbia, S.C., is planning to change its name for the second time in as many years.

CVB Financial (CVBF) in Ontario, Calif., has agreed to buy America Bancshares in Newport Beach, Calif.

Equifax, an Atlanta credit reporting firm, announced revenues in 2013 were more than $2.3 billion, up 11 percent from 2012. Profits were up 29.3 percent last year, to $351.8 million.

The future of bank M&A took clearer shape in 2013. A certain kind of deal, the merger of equals, rose to the fore and that momentum has carried into 2014. The trend coincides with a change in dealmaking styles. Buyers used to win banks in pricey, unpredictable auctions. Now they have to be friendly masters of the negotiating table, and often have to conduct patient talks over an extended period of time. It all sounds very friendly, but it's hard to do.

Banks are preaching the importance of getting low-cost deposits on their books now, ahead of new Basel liquidity rules, and the impending rise of interest rates.

These deals are hard to put together but are well worth it -- if management teams can get through the problems of working together. Sterne Agee's Michael Barry and Daryle DiLascia explain.

Baltimore County Savings Bank's 16 branches will officially open next week as branches of First National Bank of Hermitage, Pa.

Buyers used to win banks in pricey, unpredictable auctions. Now they have to be friendly masters of the negotiating table.

The California company ended three years of loan runoff after expanding into San Diego and adding managers for its agribusiness, construction and mortgage operations. What it would really like to do next is find the perfect acquisition.

Bond Street Holdings in Weston, Fla., plans to close four of the 25 branches it acquired from Great Florida Bank in Miami Lakes.