After slamming on the brakes in 2006, Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., is revving its growth engine once more. The $12.8 billion-asset company on Friday purchased two of the seven banks that failed in the Chicago area the same day.

WABASH, Ind. – Officials in Plymouth approved a three-year tax abatement to induce Beacon CU to build a new branch that will add 10 jobs.

The struggling First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque narrowed its first-quarter loss by 36% from a year earlier, to $15.7 million, as it cut its credit costs by half.

Six weeks after scrapping a long-delayed deal, Republic First Bancorp Inc. in Philadelphia is looking to raise more capital.

The sudden resignation of Philip Sherringham as the chief executive of People's United Financial Inc. in Bridgeport, Conn., on Monday has left observers wondering what went wrong at a company where so much is going right.

An estimated 525 different collection agencies and creditors were sued under consumer statutes, primarily the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, in the first half of April, according to data from U.S. District Court dockets. The number is the same as the total in the second half of March and down slightly from 545 in the first half of March.

POUGHKEESPIE, N.Y. – Hudson Valley FCU, coming off a profitable 2009, said it plans to build two new branches this year.

The Chicago company said Monday that its loans declined slightly in the first quarter as it struggled to find new qualified borrowers and focused its attention on resolving the troubled loan portfolio that has dogged it in the past two years.

The National Credit Union Administration took St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union under conservatorship on Friday because of the $250 million-asset institution's declining financial condition.

TierOne Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., announced late Sunday that its independent auditors had resigned and had warned TierOne that some of its past financial statements are inaccurate.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., returned to profitability in the first quarter after a rough fourth quarter.

First Niagara Financial Corp. said Monday that its first-quarter earnings rose 51.6%, to $32.6 million.

PrivateBancorp Inc. swung to a first-quarter loss that was wider than analysts' estimates as provisions for loan losses quadrupled.

BankUnited Financial Corp. has countersued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in the fallout from one of the costliest failures of the financial crisis — that of Florida's BankUnited FSB.

Wilmington Trust Corp. swung to a worse-than-expected first-quarter loss on still more credit deterioration at the banking and trust-services provider.

WASHINGTON — Regulators closed Chicago-area Amcore Bank late Friday, putting the $3.8 billion-asset institution out of its misery on a night when six other institutions in and around the Windy City also failed.

TULSA, Okla. – Oklahoma Central CU is building a branch at the Tulsa Hill shopping center, the $385 million credit union’s ninth service center.

SAGINAW, Mich. – Wildfire CU, formerly Communications Family CU, last week said it plans to open a new branch in Bay City this fall, its second branch opening slated for the year.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Community First CU of Florida, struggling with big losses the past two years, last week announced it is closing two branches.

SCBT Financial Corp. of Columbia, S.C., said its first-quarter earnings skyrocketed, largely as a result of its acquisition of the failed Community Bank and Trust in Cornelia, Ga.