Local banks and the Massachusetts Bankers Association have begun their holiday fundraising and donation efforts.

Holbrook Cooperative Bank recently received approval from the Massachusetts Banking Commissioner and the FDIC to open an office at 60 Crescent St. in Brockton under the name Liberty Bank, A Division of Holbrook Cooperative Bank.

The 42,283 square-foot brick building at 6 Fort St. in Quincy has been sold to the Asian Community Development Corp. for $1.86 million.

U.S. employers axed payrolls by 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years and far more than expected, government data on Friday showed, as the year-old recession hammered every corner of the U.S. economy.

Electric Insurance Co. of Beverly said today it has appointed personal lines insurance agency Sweet & Sons as an independent agent to market Electric’s products to the greater Pittsburgh market.