Announcements.

Bankers

Jason Gudvi has been appointed business development officer for Manufacturers Bank of Los Angeles, focusing on the San Fernando Valley region. Gudvi formerly was assistant vice president and financial sales manager for City National Bank's Woodland Hills office. Elgin Nelson was named business development officer for the San Diego Region. Nelson previously was a business development officer in the insurance division for Summit Bancorp in Cranford. N.J.

Mastaneh Masghati was named vice president and product manager for Cole Taylor Bank in Chicago Previously she was product manager at BankOne.

Service Providers

David Funsten has been named vice president with Barry Leeds & Associates Inc., New York. Funsten will establish a Southern branch office of the market research consulting firm, which designs and manages client research and marketing information programs. He will operate out of the company's new branch office in Memphis, Tenn. Funsten was formerly business unit leader at Acxiom.

Pamela Carter joined BAIGlobal Inc. of Tarrytown, N.Y. as part of the firm's expansion of its Qualitative MarketView division. Carter previously operated her own business in Tulsa, Okla. and will continue to work from Tulsa. Judi Korn has been promoted from vice president to vice president and research director.

Digital Insight Corp. has appointed three new senior vice presidents: Drew Hyatt is the senior vice president of Internet banking services; Bruce Isaacson is the new senior vice president of products, marketing and strategic alliances. William Kontgis is senior vice president of Internet banking operations. Joe McDoniel has been rea signed to senior vice president for strategic opportunities. Previously, he was senior vice president of operations.

William H. Andrews Jr. was named director of marketing for Market Line Associates of Atlanta. Formerly he was senior vice president and director of marketing for Union Planters Corp. in Memphis, Tenn.

Mergers

Fleet Government Banking agreed to buy the Muniflow business of Rulison & Co., a Rochester, -N.Y. based investment adviser and investment management firm. Muniflow provides cash-flow analysis and investment services to local government agencies. Joseph Rulison, president and CEO of Rulison & Co., and six other Rulison employees will operate from Fleet's Rochester regional offices. Rulison's private investment management portion will continue to operate independently.

Texas Regional Bancshares Inc., of McAllen, Texas, holding company for Texas State Bank, will acquire Riverway Bank of Houston from Riverway Holdings Inc. The resulting firm will have total assets of more than $3 billion when the merger is completed in the first quarter of 2002.

Firstfed America Bancorp Inc. of Swansea, Mass., signed an agreement to acquire Peoples Bancshares Inc. for $72 million in cash and stock, a transaction that will increase Firstfed assets from $1.7 billion to about $2.7 billion. Firstfed will also increase its branch offices from 15 to 27, and triple the number of loan origination offices from five to 15.

Mellon Financial Corp., Pittsburgh, will acquire the human resources outsourcing and consulting business of Unifi Network, a subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers. By combining Unifi with its Buck Consultants and Mellon Employee Benefit Solutions (MEBS) business, Mellon become becomes the fourth-largest global provider of human resources consulting/administration services.

Alliances

Members of InFinet Resources, a network of advisory firms working with independent financial institutions, have formed an alliance with Brintech Inc., of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., a technology consulting firm that has worked with community banks in 42 states.

Sovereign Bank of Wyomissing, Pa., has agreed to work with First Data Merchant Services to offer customized access for Sovereign business customer to the nation's largest electronic payment processing network. First Data will provide payment-processing services, sales and client support. Revenue will be shared.

Mindbox, a Greenbrae, Calif. technology company specializing in business automation processes for financial services companies, has formed a partnership with CapitalStream of Seattle, a provider of commercial finance automation technology. The partners will combine the Mindbox "decisioning" software with CapitalStream's workflow and loan-processing products.

MB Financial Inc. has adopted the name MB Financial Bank for all its Illinois financial operations. The name change will affect 31 Illinois branches that previously operated under various names: Mid-City National Bank, First National Bank of Elmhurst, First National Bank of Morton Grove and Manufacturers Bank.

A proposed new bank to be called Security Business Bank of San Diego has filed applications for permission to organize. If approved, the bank would be the first locally owned bank to establish its headquarters in downtown San Diego in over 20 years

Employees of Monroe Bank in Bloomington, Ind., participated in the bank's fifth annual "Day of Caring" in October. All but three of the bank's branches closed for a half day in order that employees could participate in 18 volunteer projects for organizations such as the American Cancer Society, Bloomington Developmental Learning Center, Hannah House Maternity Home, Monroe County Public Library and others. The bank reports that its employee volunteers gave as much as 500 hours of community service and donated nearly $7,500 in donated salaries and benefits for the day.