Alan Kline

Analysts at Sandler O'Neill & Partners have raised earnings estimates for City National Corp. after the Los Angeles company reported strong second-quarter earnings growth that was aided by improved asset quality and "promising" gains in its commercial-and-industrial loan portfolio.

Aided by improved credit quality and strong loan and deposit growth, Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston reported earnings of $35.1 million in the second quarter, up 10.5% from the same quarter in 2010.

Simmons First National Corp. in Pine Bluff, Ark., said Thursday that core earnings in the second quarter declined 4.6% from the same period last year, to $6.2 million.

VIST Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., notified investors Thursday that it is planning to raise up to $30 million in a stock offering.

A couple adjustments to the lineup card at Comerica Inc. … The Dallas bank on Monday named Robert A. Dye its chief economist. He succeed Dana Johnson, who recently retired after serving in the job since 2005.

Shares of Astoria Financial Corp. were down in heavy trading Thursday after the Lake Success, N.Y., company reported second-quarter earnings that fell well short of analysts' estimates.

Banks are moving closer to getting the threshold raised for SEC stock registration.

New York Community Bancorp said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings fell 9% from the same period last year, to $119.5 million, as a surge of originations in multi-family loans could not offset a sharp decline in mortgage income.

Improved asset quality and upticks in its commercial and mortgage lending helped Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Chicago narrow its loss in the second quarter.

Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago has promoted Chief Financial Officer William L. Morrison to president and chief operating officer and has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch veteran Michael G. O'Grady to be the new CFO.

With loan demand still weak in most of its markets, Westamerica Bancorporation in San Rafael, Calif., said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit fell by nearly 10% from the same period last year, to $21.3 million.

First Financial Holdings Inc. in Charleston, S.C., is looking to unload $155 million of mostly troubled real estate loans by the end of 2011.

First BanCorp in San Juan, P.R., has increased the maximum amount of its planned capital raise from $550 million to more than $562 million.

Bank of Hawaii in Honolulu has agreed to pay $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which it was accused of improperly charging overdraft fees on debit card transactions.

The Los Angeles company is now telling investors it may scale back its ambitions and raise only what it needs to complete its acquisition of rival Center Financial Corp.

Bernard M. Trager, the founder of Republic Bank in Louisville, can now boast that he shares something in common with Muhammad Ali: Both have been recognized by the Advertising Federation of Louisville as Louisvillians of the Year.

Continuing its rapid expansion in Massachusetts, People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., announced Monday that it has opened three more branches in and around Boston.

Eagle Bancorp Inc. in Bethesda, Md., said last week that it has received a $56.6 million investment from Treasury and that it will use about $23.2 million of that to repay the remaining balance on a loan it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Driven by improved asset quality and a widening net interest margin, PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles reported a profit of $12.8 million in the second quarter, nearly five times what it earned in the same period last year.

Citing improved asset quality and a widening net interest margin, Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., reported a $33.4 million profit in the second quarter, an increase of more than 162% from the same period in 2011.