Whitney, you may recall, first entered the Tampa Bay market in 2004 with the purchase of Madison Bancshares in Palm Harbor. It followed that deal bu buying First National Bancshares of Bradenton, then filled in the gaps with the acquisition of Signature Financial Holdings Inc. (Signature Bank) of St. Petersburg for $61.7-million in cash and stock. Now they will be known as Hancock Bank, which already has a presence on Florida's Panhandle, once the deal is finalized.

The Hancock-Whitney deal closely follows other recent bank acquisitions that include Bank of Montreal's purchase of Marshall & Ilsley, whose M&I brand has been a fixture on a downtown Tampa tower, as well as Toronto-Dominion's purchase (via its TD Bank unit) of Mercantile Bank of Florida.

The bump in bank deals has analysts producing new lists of potential takeover target in banking -- many of which do business in Florida. The targets, many of which are unlikely to be acquired bu you never know these days, include Alabama-based Regions Bank, Bank Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale and even Atlanta's SunTrust Banks.

-- Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist