Jim Dobbs

Anita Gail Moody, who was president of Enloe State Bank, admitted to creating phony loan documents — and setting a fire to destroy them — before the bank was shuttered in May 2019.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, financial institutions, wary of robberies, prevented customers from covering their faces. As branches reopen, public health concerns are forcing accommodations.

Faced with limited growth opportunities and potentially mounting loan losses, banks are getting aggressive — and creative — to boost profits.

Bankers spent Monday cleaning up damaged branches, wondering if their small-business clients will need more emergency aid and contemplating how the racial and economic inequalities highlighted by days of violent protests nationwide can be corrected.

The company will incur an upfront fee but will save $7 million a year by walking away from a deal with the Los Angeles Football Club.

At least four pending deals have been canceled since the economy was locked down to slow the pandemic's spread. With banks' market values falling and loan-loss provisions piling up, more terminations are likely.

Some lenders are issuing debt and preferred stock to provide an extra buffer for credit losses. Others are preparing for growth opportunities.

Craft Bank, which plans to open this summer, is in the final stage of raising $30 million in initial capital.

With rates so low — after steep emergency Federal Reserve cuts in response to the pandemic’s fallout — banks will struggle to generate bread-and-butter interest income and asset-sensitive lenders will face substantial net interest margin contraction this year and next, analysts say.

More write-downs seem inevitable as the coronavirus outbreak wreaks havoc on the economy and bank stocks.