Avidia Bank

BRIAN CURRAN and ROBERT W. DEJADON were named vice presidents at N.B. Kenney Co. Inc., a mechanical...

IT TAKES A VILLAGEHometown Insurance Center and E.J. Stochaj Insurance of Dudley committed to a multiyear...

 ROLLING AHEADRollstone Bank & Trust, based in Fitchburg, pledged $5,000 to the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s...

It's either the future of health care or a potential source of financial problems, a means of controlling soaring medical costs or a way to leave middle-class Americans footing the bill.

HELPING OTHERS LIVE STRONGUnited Bank, with branches in Central Massachusetts, donated $8,000 to the YMCA of Central...

When it comes to bank consolidation, Central Massachusetts has always bucked the trend. Twenty years ago, 37 of the nation's largest banks had morphed into just four institutions by 2010, according to the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Central Massachusetts was home to 39 banks, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) Nearly two decades later, it's still home to 27.

FIGHTING DISEASEWorkers’ Credit Union of Fitchburg donated $500 to the Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley for its...

CANCER CRUSADERS Worcester-based Harr Motor Group donated $53,747 to UMass Memorial Cancer Center of Excellence. Pictured, left...

In an era of competition from national and international institutions, pricey technology and uncertainty about coming regulations, what's a small local bank to do? The obvious answer, chosen by large numbers of banks across the country over the past couple of decades, is to merge with, buy, or be bought by, a rival. In Massachusetts, though, the situation is a bit different. Bruce Spitzer, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, said 75 percent of the organization's members are mutually chartered banks. That means they can't be acquired by stock banks — which include big players like Bank of America — without going through a complex and lengthy conversion process.

CYBER COMPETITIONWorcester computer services firm Domitek donated five laptops to Worcester Public School students in Grades 7...