Robert Barba

Though it is weighed down by bad construction loans and short on capital, Baytree National Bank and Trust in Lake Forest, Ill., is engineering a rescue.

Mercantile Bancorp Inc. is shedding half its banks in a series of deals that illustrates the financial contortions some companies need to survive the recession.

With its bank unit low on capital, PremierWest Bancorp in Medford, Ore., is planning to raise up to $36 million in a rights offering.

When it comes to pristine loan portfolios, Malaga Financial is among the truly elite. It had zero nonperforming loans at the end of the third quarter, a distinction shared by only 6.5% of banks and thrifts nationwide.

Imperial Capital Bancorp, which must raise $218 million of capital quickly to satisfy regulators, is talking with several potential investors, Joe Kiley, its president and chief executive officer, said in a brief interview Thursday.

A private-equity firm's deal to buy the struggling Greater Atlantic Financial Corp. in Reston, Va., is getting more time to close.

In a bid to get its bank unit adequately capitalized, Horizon Bancorp. Inc. in Bradenton, Fla., is trying to raise $5 million in a private placement of convertible preferred stock.

In a move that should help stressed banks avoid public relations fiascoes, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has toned down the harsh wording of orders it issues to such institutions.

Harrington West Financial Group Inc. is courting potential investors as the next step in recapitalizing itself, Craig J. Cerny, its chairman and chief executive officer, said in an interview Thursday.

Another round of writedowns on pooled trust-preferred securities has left Rainier Pacific Financial Group Inc. and its bank unit significantly undercapitalized.

Selling its Kansas branches helped Harrington West Financial Group Inc. hit a capital deadline this month. But the Solvang, Calif., company is far from mended.

Because of accounting errors, VIST Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., is revising its results for the past four quarters.

Nonperforming assets rose dramatically at Tamalpais Bancorp in San Rafael, Calif., forcing it to swing to a loss of $5M in the third quarter, from a profit of $1.5 million a year earlier.

In an interview during the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago late last month, Johnson said that after a decade's worth of job losses in Michigan, his intent as chairman is to advocate for the kind of political change that will help jump-start the economy.

Enforcement actions often call for banks to increase capital, but a recent order for Hanmi Financial Corp. shows regulators are getting pickier. They want more common equity.

Despite posting its fifth consecutive quarterly loss, and its biggest one yet by far, Flagstar Bancorp Inc.'s new chairman and chief executive insisted the company could be a potential acquirer once it raises more capital.

Donald Marron, whose Lightyear Capital LLC agreed to inject $40 million into Cascade, said that his team has met with roughly 150 management teams at midsize community banks in the past year.

In reporting a $12.6 million third-quarter loss, Cascade Bancorp also announced it has a second regulatory order — private-equity firm willing to give it an infusion.

For the first time in more than two years, nonperforming assets at Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. in Waycross, Ga., went down.

For the first time in more than two years, nonperforming assets at Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. in Waycross, Ga., went down.