A bill introduced in Congress this week would expand the powers of credit unions to make business loans.

Though its nonperforming loans grew dramatically in the second quarter, Appalachian Bancshares Inc. in Ellijay, Ga., said Thursday that it expects to bring in enough capital to satisfy a regulatory order.

For a year and a half, Taylor Capital Group in Rosemont, Ill., has tried to distinguish the growth of its commercial and industrial lending from the credit problems in its residential real estate portfolio.

After posting its fifth consecutive quarterly loss and falling out of compliance with a regulatory order, Pacific Capital Bancorp said it is weighing "strategic alternatives" — which usually means a company is on the sales block.

The moment a bank anticipates, or sees, signs of nonperformance, it is absolutely essential to meet with the borrower in person and ask the tough questions.

IMGCAP(1)]

NEW ENGLAND

VIENNA, Va. – Navy FCU, which has embarked on the most ambitious expansion plan in credit union history, has trimmed plans for new branches, in light of the economic slowdown.

With its credit quality increasingly troubled, Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. was already among the relatively small group of banks to defer dividend payments on the government's preferred shares.

A member of the government's watchdog agency on Wednesday said the Small Business Administration should rethink elements of its program to delegate decision-making power to lenders.

First Insurance Funding, a unit of WinTrust Financial, paid $679.5M to become the largest traditional life insurance premium finance lender in North America, it said Tuesday.

Amcore Financial, a $5.1 billion-asset company in Rockford, Ill., reported a loss of $10.7M in the second quarter, its sixth consecutive loss.

Many customers who prefer a local touch, and talented bankers who want to offer it, are ripe for the plucking by surviving area banks.

Under Jay Sidhu, the former chairman and CEO of Sovereign Bancorp, New Century Bank, plans to launch an aggressive mortgage warehouse lending initiative.

Chemical Financial in Midland, Mich., said its 2Q profit dropped 76% from a year earlier because of a higher provision for loan losses and higher deposit insurance premiums.

Webster Financial Corp. of Waterbury, Conn., is getting a $115 million infusion from the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC.

The Treasury Department is trying to hammer out legal details for a scheme to use Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to buy SBA-backed loans.

First Pittsburgh. Now Philadelphia. And First Niagara Financial Group Inc. says there's more to come. The Lockport, N.Y., company announced Monday that it had agreed to buy the struggling Harleysville National Corp. for $237 million in stock, or $5.50 a share. By itself, the deal would add $5.6 billion in assets and 83 branches in demographically attractive counties around Philadelphia to the $11.6 billion-asset First Niagara. Combined with a deal announced in April for 57 former National City Corp. branches in the western part of the Keystone State, the Harleysville National acquisition would increase First Niagara's asset size by 87% and double its branch count.