Roma Financial (ROMA) in Robbinsville, N.J., swung to a loss in the second quarter thanks to a check-kiting scheme.

Deal activity was hottest in the Southeast and Midwest, Stifel and KBW moved up in the advisory rankings after combining forces and a BankThink point-counterpoint addresses the taboo subject of whether bank mergers are worth doing.

Prosperity Bancshares is finding that its recent deals — which allowed the Houston company to expand in highly coveted businesses such as private banking and cards — are producing a nice boost to fee income.

The $902 million-asset company said Friday that it plans to shut down First Financial Diversified, which provides escrow services to First Financial and other customers.

Consolidation is needed to help the economy because there are too many banks, argues the author, a longtime bank investor. Many parties benefit from deals, and any return for the seller is better than producing poor results or being seized by regulators.

Bryn Mawr Bank (BMTC) in Pennsylvania and MidCoast Community Bancorp in Wilmington, Del., have terminated plans to merge.

Debt buyer Encore Capital Group Inc. reported gross collections from the portfolio purchasing and recovery business for the second quarter ended June 30 totaled $278.4 million, a 16% increase over the $240.6 million in the year-ago period.

Triumph Bancshares in Germantown, Tenn., has agreed to buy two mortgage businesses from Merchants & Planters Bancshares in Bolivar, Tenn.

As a good bank in a hard-hit state, Gulfstream Bancshares in Stuart, Fla., focused on getting in the best shape to be above reproach to potential buyers. The strategy worked, and its agreement to sell itself to CenterState could embolden others.

TowneBank bought a minority stake in a security firm to help protect its commercial customers and boost revenue.

Buyers, sellers and shareholders rarely profit from bank acquisitions, the author argues. There are too many things that have to go right in the pricing and integration, and there is too much that can go wrong.

Carolina Alliance Bank (CRLN) in Spartanburg, S.C., has agreed to buy Forest Commercial Bank in Asheville, N.C.

When regulators threatened a crackdown on the sale of nonperforming consumer loans to collection firms, and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) promptly halted such sales, the industry's rapid unloading of bad assets seemed to be in jeopardy.

First M&F (FMFC) in Kosciusko, Miss., revised its second-quarter results, turning previously reported earnings into a loss.

Technologies like webcasts, email, instant messages and cloud sharing are making it harder to maintain confidentiality and attorney-client privilege in deal negotiations.