Bank CEOs John W. Allison, Ed Wehmer and David Zalman blended good-natured banter with insights on breaking the $10 billion-asset barrier, the danger of bank buyers paying too much and changing attitudes about M&A at an industry conference this week.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., and Sterling Financial in Spokane, Wash., have set a $75 million penalty for terminating their planned merger.

Malvern Bancorp is being challenged by a pair of dissidents in a development that highlights investors' growing frustration with the banking industry's inability to put capital to work.

NCAL Bancorp in Los Angeles has agreed to a recapitalization that would give it new ownership.

The third quarter is nearly over, and the news from the trenches is bad. Loan demand is weak. Mortgage volatility caught many bankers off guard. And the only way to make a buck is to buy or sell assets, executives said at the recent Barclays Global Financial Services Conference in New York, the American Mortgage Conference in Raleigh, N.C., and elsewhere.

Old Line Bancshares in Bowie, Md., has raised $12 million through a private placement.

SB Financial (SBFG) in Defiance, Ohio, has filed a shelf registration that would allow it to raise up to $30 million over the next three years.

The acquisition-minded Heritage Financial and Washington Banking are said to be seeking targets to nearly double their size, motivated in part by the recent Umpqua-Sterling deal.

Activist investor Lawrence Seidman is pressuring OBA Financial Services to find a buyer, saying its poor asset growth, lagging efficiency and "abysmal" returns on average assets and average equity make it necessary.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended September 14.

King Bancshares in in Kingman, Kan., has merged its consumer finance unit, Western Credit, into its Citizens Bank of Kansas.

Banc of California (BANC) in Irvine has acquired the investment advisory firm Palisades.

Kathleen Brown, who has a long track record in financial services and government and once resigned from the Countrywide Financial board, will advise banking and other companies as a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

Hampden Bancorp sent a letter to shareholders urging them to reject as board members two candidates proposed by Clover Group, a Dallas hedge fund that controls about 6.8% of Hampden's voting rights.

A city in Kansas has hired collection agency Credit Bureau of Kansas to help collect $86,000 in overdue utility bills.

Provident New York Bancorp (PBNY) and Sterling Bancorp (STL) have reached a settlement with shareholders who alleged that Sterling's board violated its fiduciary duty and failed to disclose crucial information about the two companies' pending merger.

Old National is trying to shed assets ahead of an acquisition in hopes of staying below $10 billion in assets, a level that ensures increased regulation.

Economic shifts are driving community banks back into the mortgage-purchase market, but the very same forces are squelching demand. So small banks will have to start buying established mortgage originators — if PE firms don't buy the same targets first.

Zions Bancorp. in Salt Lake City has raised $87.9 million in a sale of subordinated notes.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has lifted a consent order with Seattle Bank, which recently added $10 million of capital.