Robert Barba

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. painted a bleak picture of its future in its quarterly report filed Thursday. The $3.4 billion-asset company in Melrose Park, Ill., said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it does not expect to satisfy capital requirements spelled out in a prompt corrective action directive issued by regulators to its Midwest Bank & Trust Co. unit on March 31.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd., which is trying to harvest capital by selling its unit banks, reported that it was undercapitalized by at least one measure at the end of the first quarter.

ShoreBank just might make it after all. A recapitalization plan for the embattled lender is coming together, with some of the country's largest banks — such as Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. — along with insurance companies and foundations working to try to prevent its failure, sources said.

Though it is still addressing significant credit issues, Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles appears to be on the upswing.

Despite its cachet in Chicago and deep-pocketed supporters, ShoreBank is running out of time to find the capital it so desperately needs.

For months now, private-equity executives and bankers have been in opposing camps in the battle for struggling banks. But Jacksonville Bancorp Inc. in Florida showed this week that it's sometimes better to recruit a rival than fight it.

New England Bancshares Inc. swung to a profit of $700,000 for its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $1 million a year earlier, as net interest income improved and credit costs fell.

The Federal Reserve announced Friday that on May 4 it placed South Financial Group Inc. of Greenville, S.C., under a written agreement that, among other things, prevents the $12 billion-asset company from paying dividends without prior approval.

The stock of the embattled TierOne Corp. in Lincoln, Neb., has been delisted from the Nasdaq stock market and is now trading over the counter.

Integra Bank Corp. in Evansville, Ind., has a new strategy for addressing its problem assets: Get them off the books as quickly as possible.

The vultures are circling around Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., and it's a scene that could become increasingly common as competition for failed banks intensifies nationwide.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. in Madison has bought itself more time from its lender. The struggling, $4.6 billion-asset company announced late Monday that U.S. Bancorp had agreed to put off for a year the due date on a $116.3 million loan

Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington has called off its acquisition of Colombo Bank in Rockville, Md., after an indication from regulators that the deal had been delayed indefinitely.

Less than a week after making a deal with a private-equity firm and the Treasury Department, Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane announced it is raising $555 million in capital through private placements with several investors.

The $2.5 billion-asset company capped the week by announcing the immediate departure of Scot T. Wetzel, the chief executive and president of the company and of its thrift unit.

Columbia Banking System Inc. of Tacoma said it plans to sell $208.8 million of common shares to bolster its already-fat capital ratios.

After a year of growth through failed-bank acquisitions, First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati posted first-quarter earnings of $11.6 million, more than double what it earned a year earlier.

There's a new wrinkle in the latest round of recapitalizations: The only way for the banks involved to win is for taxpayers to lose.

After slamming on the brakes in 2006, Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., is revving its growth engine once more. The $12.8 billion-asset company on Friday purchased two of the seven banks that failed in the Chicago area the same day.

The struggling First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque narrowed its first-quarter loss by 36% from a year earlier, to $15.7 million, as it cut its credit costs by half.