Five months after raising capital by selling two banks, Mercantile Bancorp Inc. in Quincy, Ill., is turning to shareholders for more.

Bank of Ozarks Inc. said its second-quarter net income rose 14.6% from a year earlier, to $10.9 million. The Little Rock company said Monday that higher earnings stemmed from a stronger net interest margin and declines in problem loans, chargeoffs and an allowance for loan losses.

After a quarter that beat analysts' estimates, First of Long Island Corp. in Glen Head, N.Y., is raising an extra $30 million of capital.

Commonwealth Bankshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., has entered into a written agreement with state and federal regulators. The $1.2 billion-asset company did not disclose details in a press release Friday, but said it had consented to strengthen the bank's financial condition and "maintain effective control over and supervision of" major operations.

Bank of South Carolina Corp. in Charleston posted a 6% year-over-year increase in second-quarter net earnings, largely because of a wide net interest margin spread.

North Dallas Bank and Trust Co. reported that earnings jumped more than 33% in the second quarter from a year earlier. The bank said Friday that it posted net earnings of $1.5 million, or 58 cents a share, for the quarter, up from $1.1 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier.

Capitol Federal Financial in Topeka, Kan., said Monday that it plans to raise up to $1.96 billion by converting from a mutual holding company to a stock company.

Two big names in industry circles just planted seeds they hope will sprout into the East Coast's next billion-dollar banking companies.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke put the onus squarely on banks to remedy small-business owners' continuing complaints about the limited availability of credit.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board said Monday it found that the "worst is over" for small businesses seeking credit, but that's not what some people on the ground are saying.

Two-year-old Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust has a new president and chief executive in longtime Citigroup Inc. wealth-management executive Robert Matthews. He replaces Kevin McCabe, who left the bank in January.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers’ office filed a lawsuit last week against Westminster, Colo.-based Real Talk Network, alleging the company engaged in false and deceptive trade practices and violated the state's consumer credit laws.

The $170 million-asset company said late Thursday that it plans to become a full stock company through a second-step conversion. It completed the first step in January 2005, giving its mutual holding company a 63.8% ownership stake.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. in Honolulu has entered into an agreement with state and federal regulators requiring it to submit a capital restoration plan within 60 days.

Bankers in this climate recognize that in order to get capital, they often have to give a little something first. Still, offering a 9% annual interest rate for a decade is a cost only a handful of bankers are willing to bear.

Hovde Acquisitions, a Washington private equity firm, used a shelf charter to pick up the $282 million-asset Bay National Bank in Baltimore, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and was one of four failures on Friday.

Hovde Acquisitions, a Washington private equity firm, used a shelf charter to pick up the $282 million-asset Bay National Bank in Baltimore, which was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and was one of four failures on Friday.

In the second half of June, consumers sued an estimated 471 different collection agencies and creditors under various statutes - including 416 lawsuits citing at least one violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), according to U.S. District Court complaint dockets.

Second Federal Savings and Loan in Chicago views itself as the ShoreBank for its surrounding Hispanic community and hopes prospective investors will see it that way, too.