Web Seminars

Two more community banks have exited the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program with loans they received from another government fund designed to encourage small-business lending.

The $497 million-asset Central Bancorp Inc. in Somerville, Mass., announced Thursday that it has been awarded $10 million from Treasury's $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund and that it has used the entire amount to retire its Tarp debt.

Salisbury Bancorp Inc. in Lakeville, Conn., also said Thursday that it received $16 million from the fund and that it has a portion of the proceeds to repurchase the $8.8 million of preferred stock it sold to the Treasury in 2009. The $587 million-asset Salisbury added that it has invested the bulk of the $7.2 million balance into its bank unit, Salisbury Bank & Trust Co., as Tier 1 capital.

In a news release, Salisbury President and Chief Executive Officer Richard J. Cantele Jr. said that the additional capital "strengthens our already strong balance sheet…which enhances our ability to meet the credit needs of the small business community in our various markets and promote economic growth."