Robert Barba

Experts believe more Tarp participants will fail as the economy plods along, and that investors should keep this in mind when bidding on auctions of the Treasury's Tarp holdings.

An employee of Mercantile Bank in Grand Rapids, Mich., showed a crowd of eager pupils how to get in touch with their inner-zombies at an event teaching the steps from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video.

Lower credit costs and higher mortgage banking revenue pushed MainSource Financial Group's (MSFG) third-quarter net income up 34.5% from a year earlier to $6.5 million.

Earnings at Flagstar Bancorp in Troy, Mich., fell 7% from a quarter earlier as credit and litigation costs offset a large gain from loan sales.

Borba, along with his brother John, Ron Kruse and others founded Chino Valley Bank in 1974 "with the vision of creating a community bank that could provide customized banking relationships to the many small businesses and business owners in the greater Chino area," the $6.3 billion-asset CVB said in a press release Tuesday.

American Heritage in California had been facing pressure from the OCC to diversity beyond SBA lending. Rather than reinvent itself, the bank found an eager buyer in Sterling Financial, a Spokane, Wash., company that wants to expand the SBA platform.

First Defiance Financial (FDEF) in Defiance, Ohio, reported third-quarter income of $5.4 million, up 32% from a year earlier, as credit costs dissipated.

The acquisition of Rochdale Investment Management helped raise City National Corp.'s third-quarter income 44% from a year earlier to $59.8 million.

Pinnacle, the flagship bank unit of the $6.7 billion-asset Pinnacle Bancorp, agreed last Thursday to buy the $183 million-asset First State Bank of Joplin in Missouri. A day later, the bank announced plans to buy the $139 million-asset Hastings State Bank in Nebraska.

U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis embraced its very brief conference call with analysts as a good sign for his Minneapolis company.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., announced plans to close a dozen branches a day before it is scheduled to release its third-quarter results.

U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis lowered its loan-growth expectations for the fourth quarter to reflect borrower uncertainty about the election, the fiscal cliff and the overall economic environment, CEO Richard Davis says.

Strong net interest income helped Wintrust Financial (WTFC) overcome rising labor expenses and smaller gains on failed-bank acquisitions.

Pacific Premier in Costa Mesa, Calif., needed more deposits to make more loans, so it took advantage of its rising share price to strike a deal for First Associations Bank in Dallas, which holds deposits for homeowners associations.

Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK) in Little Rock announced earnings of the $19.3 million for the third quarter, up 2% from a year earlier, as low expenses more than offset rising credit costs.

Many community banks could find themselves in the same dilemma as LNB in Ohio, which is weighing the pleas of activist shareholder Umberto Fedeli to repurchase its Tarp shares from private investors. It has to choose between paying higher dividends or a costly capital raise.

American Founders Bancorp in Lexington, Ky., announced Monday that it plans to close one of its Lexington branches by the end of October, leaving it with three branches in its hometown.

The embattled Lansing, Mich., company announced earlier this week that it had entered into agreements with two units of ValStone Partners, a private-equity firm in Birmingham, Mich.

Michael Tierney will continue to tackle lingering mortgage problems at the Michigan company, which is also trying to expand more into commercial lending. Meanwhile, a key private-equity backer says is has no immediate interest to cash out of the company.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has terminated a memorandum of understanding with Wilshire Bancorp (WIBC) in Los Angeles.