Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. in San Antonio reported a double-digit drop in third-quarter earnings after provisioning for expected losses caused by Hurricane Ike, which lashed the Galveston and Houston areas in mid-September.

As publicly traded banks ponder whether to apply for the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program, thousands of private ones that are currently ineligible await details about how the government plans to include them.

Though its loan-loss provision quadrupled from a year earlier, to $6.2 million, S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., said Tuesday that its third-quarter net income was flat, at $15.7 million.

Southwest Bancorp Inc. in Stillwater, Okla., said Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 58% from a year earlier, to $2.3 million, or 16 cents a share, as a result of rising loan delinquencies and a contracting net interest margin.

First Mariner Bancorp of Baltimore said Tuesday that its third-quarter loss narrowed to $2.8 million as the company took steps to reduce its expenses.

HMN Financial Inc. of Rochester, Minn., lost $7.1 million, or $1.93 a share, in the third quarter after writing off a large commercial loan and setting aside $3.4 million for two nonperforming construction loans.

Few investment banks know the trust-preferred securities market as well as FTN Midwest Securities Corp.; since 2001 the First Horizon National Corp. unit has structured more than 30 pooled trust-preferred deals, raising $22 billion for hundreds of banks and thrifts.

BancorpSouth Inc. in Tupelo, Miss., announced after the market closed Monday that its third-quarter earnings fell 22% from a year earlier, to $28.3 million, as a result of an increase in delinquent loans.

Buoyed by strong gains in both interest and fee income, Community Bank System Inc. in DeWitt, N.Y., said Monday that its third-quarter earnings increased 6.9% from a year earlier, to $11.8 million, or 39 cents a share, in line with the average estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Alfred R. Camner, a founder of the struggling BankUnited Financial Corp. of Coral Gables, Fla., retired Monday as its chairman and chief executive officer.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston said Friday that its third-quarter earnings declined 35% from a year earlier, to $15.4 million, as a result of the steep decline in the value of its investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock.

Only 10% of the community bankers responding to a survey by Pacific Coast Bankers' Bancshares said they would like to participate in the Treasury Department's capital purchase program.

There is no telling how long the Internal Revenue Service will keep in place a new tax change aimed at encouraging bank acquisitions, so banking lawyers are advising their clients to hurry up and deal.

VANCOUVER, Wash. – iQ CU has acquired a former bank building in the downtown which it is renovating into a new headquarters.

COLUMBUS, Ohio-BMI FCU here has opened a new headquarters that seeks to take the intangible concept of member service and turn it into something visible.

ATLANTA-As upheaval in the financial markets is causing ever-greater consolidation among even the largest of banks, there are increasing opportunities for credit unions snap up former bank locations-but is that the right way to go?

ATLANTA-With former bank branches increasingly available for purchase, there are opportunities for smart buyers, according to Will Klein, senior consultant, and Rebecca Butler, consultant, with KDA.

ST. LOUIS-Beware the "albatross" when purchasing a branch from another institution, cautions Kevin Blair, CEO of NewGround here.

MILWAUKEE-The ongoing financial crisis is good news for credit unions, says Ralph La Macchia, president of La Macchia Group.

Citing a writedown of Freddie Mac preferred stock, Astoria Financial Corp. in Lake Success, N.Y., said late Wednesday that it swung to a third-quarter loss of $16.5 million, or 18 cents a share, from a profit of $35.3 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier.