Marissa Fajt

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston beat analysts' estimates for its fourth-quarter earnings.

Superior Bancorp in Birmingham, Ala., has taken another step in its efforts to improve its capital position.

Following a regulatory exam, Sterling Banks Inc. in Mount Laurel, N.J., said it will restate its results for the second and third quarters of 2009.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc.'s acquisition of a western Pennsylvania branch network from PNC Financial Services Group Inc. is working out better than it had expected.

Now with a war chest of capital, a clean balance sheet and willing management, Hancock Holding is primed to take advantage of down-cycle opportunities and is actively seeking acquisitions in Florida.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has opened a temporary satellite office near Chicago that will house up to 500 non-permanent staff members.

Mercantile Bank Corp. in Grand Rapids reported Tuesday that it swung to a fourth-quarter loss of $26.4 million, from a profit of $300,000 a year earlier.

Southern First Bancshares Inc. in Greenville, S.C., reported Tuesday its fourth-quarter earnings fell 59% from a year earlier, to $152,000.

North Asia Investment Corp., a $50 million special-purpose acquisition company led by a group of South Korean investors, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Pacific City Financial Corp., a Los Angeles company that caters to Korean-Americans.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. in Lansing, Mich., announced Monday that it has a deal to sell its 51% stake in Adams Dairy Bank in Blue Springs, Mo., to the bank's board of directors.

Bankers formerly with large institutions are finding opportunities at smaller banks, particularly after their former employers failed or were merged into other companies.

Sterling Bancshares Inc. in Houston has promoted Bob S. Smith to chief credit officer at the company's subsidiary bank.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. in Melrose Park, Ill., said credit quality continued to deteriorate at its subsidiary bank in the fourth quarter, and warned the bank's capital ratios are expected to fall from a well-capitalized level at the end of the third quarter to undercapitalized for the fourth quarter.

Regulators, with their reputations on the line and anxiety about the future, are forcing some banks to hold on to much of the capital. In recent months, some banks that wanted to fully repay the Troubled Asset Relief Program were allowed to return a fraction.

The $1.2 billion-asset company said Tuesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it exchanged $1.1 million of fixed-rate subordinated notes for 2.2 million shares of common stock in a deal with seven investors, including one board member.

Like a lot of companies, TLCM Holdings LLC in Richardson, Texas, was shopping for a failing bank. Its plan: transform the target's business model to provide a secondary market for bank loans.

TLCM Holdings LLC, a new holding company in Richardson, Texas, has agreed to acquire EJ Financial Corp. in Dallas. TLCM and EJ Financial announced the deal late Wednesday, without disclosing the price.

Following a regulatory exam, Preferred Bank in Los Angeles announced Wednesday that it will restate its third-quarter earnings, bringing its loss for the quarter to as much as $5 a share, according to one analyst's estimate.

With little competition, Horizon Bancorp in Michigan City, Ind., was able to create its own playbook for a deal announced late Tuesday in which the company agreed to buy pieces of the $122 million-asset American Trust and Savings Bank in Whiting, Ind.

Sometimes the best deal is the one that doesn't happen. That appears to be the case for Sterling Bancshares in Houston, which announced this week that it had called off its 19-branch deal with First Banks Inc. The sale was set to close by Dec. 31.