Bankers usually tout loan growth, but not Jay Fritz.

Cascade Bancorp of Bend, Ore., posted a surprising first-quarter loss Friday and said it is still working to add capital.

Pennsylvania Commerce Bancorp Inc.'s first-quarter profits plunged 74% from a year earlier, to $837,000, or 13 cents a share, as it took a higher loan-loss provision and spent money to prepare for an acquisition.

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut their third bank of the evening late Friday, closing $299.4 million-asset America West Bank in Layton, Utah.

The embattled condo lender Corus Bankshares Inc. reported preliminary first-quarter results Friday that make its outlook seem increasingly dim.

Provident Financial Services Inc. of Jersey City said Friday that it swung to a loss last quarter because of a $152.5 million goodwill impairment charge.

While banks have pretty much taken down the help wanted signs in their branches and loan offices, there is one position that many can't fill fast enough: the commercial real estate workout specialist.

Though the list of banks in dire straits grows by the day, most are concentrated in formerly frothy areas like the Southeast or California.

AmericanWest Bancorp. in Spokane said Thursday that it has given up on getting an investment from the Treasury Department, but that it is still pursuing other avenues to raise capital.

Four Oaks Fincorp Inc. in North Carolina has agreed to buy Nuestro Banco in Raleigh for about $2.7 million in stock.

I was complaining to my wife recently that everything these days comes in impenetrable plastic casings. Frustrated and in a hurry, I grabbed a pocket knife. Let's just say that the package wasn't the only thing I opened.

Horizon Financial Corp. in Bellingham, Wash., said Thursday that it swung to a loss in the first quarter and that Dennis Jones, the president and chief operating of its bank, had resigned.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. in Pittsfield, Mass., is shelling out for an acquisition in a neighboring market even as it prepares to repay government capital.

After a severe worsening of credit problems last quarter, and with further weakening expected, UCBH Holdings Inc. is under pressure to boost capital levels — beyond an infusion it has lined up from a big shareholder in China.

MIDWEST

Six months after raising roughly $25 million in an initial public offering, First Savings Financial Group Inc. in Clarksville, Ind., is putting the money to work in a deal that would more than double its asset size.

Bank of Florida Corp. in Naples posted its third consecutive quarterly loss Tuesday on another spike in nonperforming loans and chargeoffs.

As president and chief operating officer of Amcore Financial Inc., Donald H. Wilson spent more than a year trying to fix its loan troubles, all in vain.

In reporting a $5.2 million first-quarter loss it attributed to continuing credit trouble, Hanmi Financial Corp. of Los Angeles said Tuesday it has gone after deposits more aggressively than loans.