Alan Kline

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.

Aiming to increase its trust assets under management, WSFS Financial Corp. in Wilmington, Del., has formed a seven-member advisory board to help it better serve existing clients and identify new ones.

Shares of Orrstown Financial Inc. fell sharply Friday after the Shippensburg, Pa., company warned that it expects to take a larger-than-expected provision for loan losses in the second quarter.

ECB Bancorp in Englehard, N.C., announced after the market closed Thursday that it is buying seven branches and $195 million of deposits in North Carolina from Hampton Roads Bancshares Inc. of Norfolk, Va.

Shares of Lakeland Bancorp Inc. fell nearly 8% Thursday after the Oak Ridge, N.J., company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analysts' expectations.

Two New England thrifts have beefed up their commercial-lending operations by hiring teams of bankers from recently acquired banks.

NBT Bancorp Inc. of Norwich, N.Y., is expanding into western Massachusetts with a deal to purchase four branches from Legacy Bancorp of Pittsfield, Mass.

Improved asset quality, lower credit costs and gains on investment securities powered Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle to a $30.1 million profit in the quarter that ended June 30, an increase of 138% over the same period in 2010.

Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it has hired 75 small-business bankers in Texas and that it intends to add roughly 25 more in the state by the end of the first quarter.

Consumers may not be thrilled with their banks these days, but they dislike airlines, utilities and cable providers even more.

Home Bancshares Inc. in Conway, Ark., has repaid the Treasury Department the $50 million it received in early 2009 from the Troubled Asset Relief program.