No longer wary of the stigma of receiving capital injections from the federal government, privately held community banks are lining up to participate in the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. soared Tuesday after the online brokerage and banking firm said that it "remains optimistic" about its chances to get a large capital injection from the Treasury Department.

In the failure of PFF Bancorp Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., lies the wreckage of another deal.

U.S. Bancorp's efforts to bulk up in several of its markets got off to a rousing start with the acquisition of two failed California thrifts.

Add Team Financial Inc. of Paola, Kan., to the growing list of banking companies that have publicly declared they may fail.

A Massachusetts merger of a bank and a credit union has won regulatory approval.

As a longtime executive at Wachovia Corp. and its predecessor, First Union Corp., Kent Ellert was instrumental in helping the Charlotte company integrate its Florida acquisitions. Now he wants to use his market knowledge and his connections to build his own banking company.

WASHINGTON — Though the Treasury Department quickly approved scores of institutions' requests for capital injections, many others seeking a share of the government funds have been waiting weeks for an answer, and their investors are getting nervous.

Less than a year after it was spun off from the timber company Temple-Inland Inc., Guaranty Financial Group Inc. of Austin is searching for a replacement for its longtime chief executive.

SOUTHWEST

WASHINGTON — The Community Bank, a $681 million-asset institution in Loganville, Ga., became the industry's 20th failed bank of the year.

The National Council of La Raza is getting into the check-cashing business as part of a plan to get more people with low to moderate income into the financial mainstream.

Another life insurance company is planning to buy a troubled banking company to qualify for government capital.

Like many of the community banks they serve, bankers' banks have hit a rough patch.

Vineyard National Bancorp in Corona, Calif., reported a loss of $28.6 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, bringing its total loss for the first nine months of the year to $109.8 million.

Capital Corp. of the West, which last week warned that its future could be in doubt if it failed to raise capital, said late Monday that it had lost $54.6 million in the third quarter, compared to a profit of $6 million the year earlier.

Privately held and thinly traded banking companies that participate in the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program would face tighter restrictions than publicly traded ones, particularly when it comes to paying dividends and redeeming trust-preferred securities.

WASHINGTON — In a matter of hours Friday, four large insurance companies announced marriages with troubled thrift companies, and the Office of Thrift Supervision played the role of matchmaker, according to industry sources.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department announced Monday that privately held banks and thrifts are now eligible for direct capital injections from the government.

The government agency that guarantees loans to farmers is tightening the guidelines on the interest rates that may be charged, because the current policy is so vague that it has exposed lenders to lawsuits.