Six banks in four states met their demise and two new banks were chartered in their ashes in perhaps the busiest night the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has had so far in 2011.

Profitability at community banks is still mostly dependent on lower credit costs, and the whispers aren't about organic loan growth, but about stealing market share from others.

Profitability at community banks is still mostly dependent on lower credit costs, and the whispers aren't about organic loan growth, but about stealing market share from others.

Vensure Federal Credit Union in Mesa, Ariz., was taken under conservatorship Friday by the National Credit Union Administration.

Independent Bank Corp. in Rockland, Mass., reported that first-quarter earnings rose 21.3% from a year earlier, to $11.2 million, as credit costs waned and noninterest income rose.

Bank Mutual Corp. in Milwaukee returned to the black with first-quarter earnings of $1 million, after it reported a $76.4 million loss in the fourth quarter tied to a balance sheet restructuring.

Pacific Commerce Bank in Los Angeles said Friday that its chief executive has resigned to return to practicing law.

Webster Financial Corp. in Waterbury, Conn., on Friday reported a $33.5 million first-quarter profit, compared with a $6 million loss a year earlier, as credit costs subsided.

First BanCorp in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said late Thursday that the Treasury Department has given it more time to raise capital.

RICHLAND, Wash. – HAPO Community CU has bought property to build two new branches, including its first in Oregon.

State Bancorp Inc. in Jericho, N.Y., reported first-quarter results that were modestly higher from a year earlier, at $3 million.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston said Thursday that its first-quarter net earnings rose 9% from a year earlier, to $33.9 million, largely because of double-digit increases in loans and deposits.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. in Kansas City, Mo., reported a 37% increase in first-quarter earnings from a year earlier, to $60.5 million, because of a dramatic drop in credit costs.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., has acquired certain assets and liabilities of River City Mortgage LLC, a mortgage bank in Bloomington, Minn.

A pair of banking companies said late Wednesday that they had left the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

State Bank Financial Corp. in Atlanta said late Wednesday that it received approval to start trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

I have observed that many banks do a generally poor job recovering from mistakes. People who have been victimized by banks are looking for three things in the wake of a mistake.

The Federal Trade Commission has charged two men and their companies with billing consumers without their consent, and not providing promised refunds, in violation of federal law.

ENB Financial Corp. in Ephrata, Pa., reported that first-quarter earnings rose 15.6% from a year earlier, to $1.7 million, as the company lowered its funding cost while credit costs remained stable.

NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Hudson Heritage FCU opened a new branch in a Wal-Mart Supercenter here, the $225 million credit union’s 10th branch.