Profits grew faster than credit problems among the first batch of community banks to post second-quarter results — another tentative sign the sector is recovering.

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut seven banks late Friday, pushing the failure total this year to 103. Though the pace of failures briefly slowed earlier this month, it appears to be picking up momentum again, as Friday's failures followed six last week.

Iberiabank Corp. of Lafayette, La., reported that its second-quarter net income rose 5% from a year earlier, to $8.7 million. Earnings per share fell 37%, to 33 cents a share, from 52 cents a share a year earlier, the $10.4 billion-asset company said Wednesday.

The $10.6 billion-asset company's earnings were driven primarily by a $51 million gain stemming from a failed bank acquisition completed in the quarter, MB Financial said Thursday.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – ORNL FCU said it has purchased nearly 38 acres in Horizon Center Business Park in west Oak Ridge where it plans to build a new headquarters for the $1.3 billion credit union.

Cardinal Financial Corp. of McLean, Va., posted a 120% jump in net earnings in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, outpacing analysts' expectations.

Valley National Bancorp in Wayne, N.J., said Thursday that second-quarter net income more than tripled from a year earlier. The $14.1 billion-asset company earned $33 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $9.2 million, or 6 cents a share, exceeding analysts' expectations.

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. in Buffalo reported a 75% increase in second-quarter net income Thursday.The $20.5 billion-asset company boosted earnings to $20 million, or 10 cents a share, from $11.4 million, or 8 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2009.

A regulatory maneuver rarely used since the savings and loan crisis has saved Family Federal Savings of Illinois in the nick of time.

Public policy mandates are often incompatible with prudent lending as writ large by the failure of Fannie and Freddie. Bankers would be advised to say no, thank you, to the Fund.

NEW ENGLAND

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. in Nashville said Wednesday that it lost $27.8 million in the second quarter after reducing the value of some deferred tax assets.

Southwest Bancorp Inc. in Stillwater, Okla., posted a 31% decline in second-quarter net income compared with a year earlier.

Community National Bank in Great Neck, N.Y., announced it has raised $18 million in capital in its secondary common stock offering.

Atlantic Coast Federal Corp.'s credit quality is on the mend as the Waycross, Ga., company approaches its second-step conversion.

The financial reform bill slated for enactment today has nudged a staid Midwestern thrift to get bigger and take more risks.

GreenChoice Holding Co. Inc. in Chicago has completed its acquisition of Family Federal Savings of Illinois in Cicero.

Armed with more money and less baggage, private-equity funds are staking their claims in the Southeast banking market, changing the landscape of failed-bank dealmaking as they go.