The FDIC sold the operations of the $585 million-asset Beach First National Bank in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Bank of North Carolina in Thomasville.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold the operations of the $585 million-asset Beach First National Bank in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Bank of North Carolina in Thomasville.

The Federal Trade Commission Friday announced it is mailing more than $4 million to consumers identified as victims of an illegal credit card billing scam operated by J.K. Publications, raising the total to more than $16 million since an initial mailing last June.

The $185 million-asset bank reported a profit of $448,000, or 24 cents a share, compared with $278,000 in the first quarter of 2009, it said Friday in its report for the quarter ended March 31.

Meridian Interstate Bancorp Inc. in East Boston, Mass., received permission to repurchase up to 5% of its outstanding shares.

The sale of Harleysville National Corp. of Pennsylvania to First Niagara Financial Group of Buffalo closed Friday, though before the closing Harleysville National sold a wealth management division.

SHREWSBURY, Mass. – The local school board here this week voted to allow Central One FCU to open a branch at the high school this fall.

MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin CU on Monday will open its third branch in the Milwaukee area in Wauwatosa, in an almost-new building it bought from ailing Amcore Bank.

APPLETON, Wis. – Prospera CU, a pioneer in credit union payday loans, yesterday said it is closing one full-service branch and two of its GoodMoney payday loan sites inside Goodwill stores as part of a restructuring.

Four Wachovia Corp. veterans plan to build a major regional bank in the Carolinas and Virginia, and are putting a twist on the strategy similar groups are using.

The National Credit Union Administration has entered the real estate market along Florida's Gulf Coast in a big way as it struggles to sell hundreds of properties it ended up holding from three large credit union failures: Norlarco Federal Credit Union, Huron River Area Federal Credit Union and New Horizons Community Federal Credit Union.

Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa, Calif., reported a $6.8 million loss for the fourth quarter, cutting its loss nearly in half from a year earlier, with the improvement primarily driven by a lower provision for loan losses.

PremierWest Bancorp in Medford, Ore., has succeeded in recapitalizing its bank, though a fresh regulatory order has pushed back the target.

First Financial Holdings Inc. of Charleston, S.C., warned Thursday that it expects to report a steep loan-loss provision for its fiscal second quarter, which ended March 31.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. – Kellogg Community FCU has unveiled its newest branch, in Pennfield High School.

BOISE, Idaho – Capital Educators FCU has broken ground on a new branch, its seventh, in nearby Eagle.

LATRHUP VILLAGE, Mich. – Michigan First CU continues to expand its presence in the Detroit metro area with today’s opening of its second in-store branch, inside the Meijer store in Lincoln Park.

LOWELL, Mass. – Northern Massachusetts Telephone Workers' CU said it purchased a former Haverhill Bank branch in nearby Haverhill, one of two branches that belonged to a one-time credit union acquired by the bank in 2008.

Nearly two-thirds of failed-bank customers either switched to another bank or were likely to change banks in the months following a takeover assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to a survey set to be released Thursday by the Deloitte Center for Banking Solutions.

MIDWEST