Take a minute this week to make sure your branch managers remember that, in our increasingly demanding branch environments, coaching shouldn't be a spectator sport.

Regulators closed the $452 million-asset Bradford Bank in Baltimore on Friday. It was a mutual bank owned by the holding companies Bradford Bank MHC and Bradford Mid-Tier Co.

YORK, Penn. – First Capital FCU celebrated the grand opening of its new ‘green’ branch on Saturday.

JANESVILLE, Wis. – Students at Craig and Parker high schools started the school year Monday with a new amenity, each had their own credit union, courtesy of Blackhawk Community CU.

SOUTHEAST

Cascade Bancorp in Bend, Ore., needs to raise about $100 million by one estimate, and the task just took on more urgency.

The NCUA took over the failed Kaiser Lakeside Federal Credit Union in Oakland late Monday and assigned its remnants to the $315 million-asset SafeAmerica Credit Union in nearby Pleasanton.

Federal regulators have given the struggling First Federal Bankshares Inc. in Sioux City, Iowa, until the end of September to raise the capital levels at its Vantus Bank unit.

Town Center Bank is practically giving itself away. In a deal with more than one unusual twist, it plans to sell itself for no more than the bad loans on its books.

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Raleigh City Council voted approval yesterday of a preliminary site plan for a 12-story, mixed-use building that State Employees CU plans to construct downtown.

Listening to Bryce Carr discuss his doubts about Emprise Bank's new advertising campaign for its wealth management services, one gets an old-school feeling about how business gets done in his market.

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – TriCo FCU is offering members a chance to win a 50-inch color TV as part of the grand opening for a new branch in the Target Center here on Sept. 12, the $160 million credit union’s fifth full-service branch.

After a vote of confidence from President Obama, will Chairman Bernanke focus on those who live from paycheck to paycheck and the small businesses that are the key to the economic recovery?

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The National Credit Union Administration seized the tiny Free Choice Federal Credit Union in Philadelphia on Friday, bringing the number of credit union failures this year to 12.

Coastal Banking Co. of Beaufort, S.C., has entered into a formal agreement with regulators to reduce its risky assets.

Only three mutual thrifts have succeeded in going public so far this year, but the conversion market is starting to pick up, with two large deals on the way.

CLINTON, Md. – The U.S. Postal Service FCU is converting processing for its $22 million credit card portfolio to TNB Card Services.

LATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich. – Michigan First CU will open its first in-store branch today in the Meijer’s in nearby Fraser.

Guaranty Financial Group Inc. sought bankruptcy protection from creditors less than a week after collapsing in the 11th-biggest bank failure in U.S. history.