Bankers are pressing ahead with sales of nonperforming commercial loans, and debt collectors are buying them up, even though regulatory pressure has slowed or halted the unloading of bad consumer loans.

Nice Systems (NICE), a maker of contact center software, has agreed to buy Causata, a provider of customer behavior analytics software. Ideally, the two technologies combined could provide a real-time picture of what a customer has been up to the moment he calls a company's call center.

Banc of California (BANC) earned $4.4 million, or 36 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with a $739,000 loss a year earlier. The results topped the expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg by 13 cents.

CoBiz Financial (COBZ) in Denver plans to retire $21 million in debt. The $2.7 billion-asset company is scheduled to retire the unsecured notes on Aug. 19, it said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

Cardtronics said this morning it has continued its acquisitions spree with a deal to acquire Cardpoint Limited, an operator of 7,100 ATMs in the U.K. and Germany for $153 million cash.

Farmers & Merchants State Bank in Archbold, Ohio, has agreed to buy a branch from Croghan Colonial Bank in Fremont, Ohio.

Sussex Bancorp (SSBX) in Franklin, N.J., has completed a $7.2 million capital raise.

Carlile Bancshares plans to merge and rename its two Colorado banking units.

A former chairman of the failed Premier Bank in Wilmette, Ill., has been charged with fraud in what prosecutors say is the first criminal case tied to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Some high-priced takeover deals in the corporate world have stifled general M&A activity, leaving players in the leveraged-loan market to wonder what will sustain demand for issuances the rest of the year.

Zions Bancorp. (ZION) in Salt Lake City plans to issue as much as $195 million in debt through its online broker-dealer subsidiary.

The bank wants to make acquisitions in central Florida, but CEO Michael Micallef keeps hitting snags with loan books, cultural fit and deal structure.

Allegiance Bancshares has agreed to buy the $220 million-asset Independence Bank. Both are in Houston.

Debt buyer Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. (AACC), acquired in June by rival Encore Capital Group Inc. for $200 million, will lay off 110 people to eliminate redundant jobs.

Baylake (BYLK) in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has agreed to sell $26 million in deposits from two branches to 1st National Bank of Berlin in Wisconsin.

With the market starting to value banks on their earnings rather than their book values, buyers are looking for deals that will prop up their bottom lines over the long term and are willing to pay more.

Blue Hills Bank in Boston is buying a New England franchise from Sovereign Bank.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended Aug. 3.

SunTrust Banks (STI) in Atlanta has committed $5 billion to funding commercial mortgages originated by MetLife (MET).

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