The midsize New York mortgage lender and the West Coast bank created to house the IndyMac assets are worlds apart in many ways, but their rumored deal is strange enough to work, experts say.

ST Financial Group in College Station, Texas, plans to buy a small bank near Dallas. The parent company of Spirit of Texas Bank has agreed to purchase Peoples Bank in Colleyville, which has $72 million in assets and two branches.

Bank of Astoria in Oregon plans to convert all of its branches to the Columbia Bank brand, nine years after the two lenders merged.

Ocwen Financial has added Wilbur Ross Jr. to its board.

The upswing in acquisition announcements lately has been unaccompanied by the spiral of rising deal and trading multiples that attended waves of mergers in the past.

Richard Moore became First Bancorp's CEO two years after losing a bid to become the state's governor. Investors are hoping his loss is the company's gain.

The $2.9 billion-asset parent of BofI Federal Bank said Monday it seeks as much as $50 million for general corporate purposes through the sale of common stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The future of retail banking has rarely been murkier. Here are five questions about branches, layoffs, technology and revenues that bankers need to be asking.

A rise in shareholder lawsuits following deal announcements has prompted insurers to vet clients' M&A plans and raise the deductibles banks must pay to settle claims.

Ally Bank continued its retreat from home lending by agreeing Tuesday to sell a portfolio of mortgage servicing rights to Ocwen Financial Corp. (OCN) for roughly $585 million.

Heritage has agreed to pay $44.2 million for Valley Community Bancshares in Puyallup, Wash., the holding company for the $242 million-asset Valley Bank, the companies announced Tuesday.

Sunrise Community Banks in St. Paul, Minn., plans to combine three bank charters.

Gulfstream Bancshares, a closely held Florida business lender with four branches and equity of about $66 million, has put itself up for sale, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The most notable quotes from American Banker stories of the previous week. Readers are encouraged to add their own observations in the Comments fields at the bottom of each slide.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended March 9.

FirstMerit (FMER) has hired a veteran banker to lead its operations in Wisconsin.

Michael Carrazza, a private equity investor who bailed out Patriot National Bancorp, is eager to make loans while searching for the optimal exit strategy.

As a veteran senior executive in the male-dominated banking industry, Terri Dial left a void that has yet to be filled a year after her death.

Florida bank-buyer Bond Street Holdings bulked up on failure deals, took a 19-month break and has returned to M&A with the aim of $5 billion in assets by yearend.

Hanmi Financial Corp's talks with rivals about a possible sale have stalled because of disagreements over price and management, said people with knowledge of the matter.