Beverly Hills Bancorp Inc. in Calabasas, Calif., said it will restate its 2004 earnings, because it incorrectly calculated its tax benefits for that year. The $1.4 billion-asset Beverly Hills said late Monday that it had overstated its deferred-tax asset by about $1.6 million. As a result, the company said, it overstated its net income, assets, and stockholders' equity by the same amount.

WASHINGTON - National Credit Union Administration chairman JoAnn Johnson said it has no intention of imposing Community Reinvestment Act-like regulations on credit unions.

After months of prompting from Gulf Coast bankers and industry trade groups - and with an apparent push from the White House - the Small Business Administration has agreed to let banks and other lenders help it process disaster loan applications.

Synergy Financial Group Inc.'s transformation, starting with its then relatively unusual conversion from a credit union to a mutual thrift in 1998 and culminating with a second-step conversion in 2004, gave it a mountain of capital to use for growth.

After helping Placer Sierra Bancshares in Sacramento nearly quadruple its assets by financing a string of deals, a San Francisco private equity fund is looking to repeat that performance.

Michael W. Gullion, the founder and former chairman and chief executive of Gold Banc Corp. in Leawood, Kansas, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of embezzling $1.9 million from the company between 2001 and 2003.

Community bankers are much less nervous about mutual funds and brokerage firms than they were five years ago.

Continuing its expansion into new markets in the Southeast, Cadence Bank of Starkville, Miss., said it plans to open a branch near Nashville.

SouthFirst Bancshares Inc. of Sylacauga, Ala., is going private.

Allan R. Dennison's two years at AmeriServ Financial in Johnstown, Pa., have been eventful.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Greater Atlantic Financial Corp.'s stock soared Thursday on speculation that the struggling Reston, Va., thrift holding company could be on the block.

Bank Holdings Inc. of Reno said Thursday that it earned $579,000 in the fourth quarter, 74% more than a year earlier.

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering legislation that would stiffen penalties for crimes against financial institutions and their customers and broaden the definition of fraud so that more types of crimes could be prosecuted.

The bidding war is apparently over. UCBH Holdings Inc. in San Francisco announced late Tuesday that it had withdrawn its $97.4 million offer for Great Eastern Bank in New York, which has accepted a $101 million bid from Cathay General Bancorp.

After 15 months spent making major structural changes, First Financial Bancorp of Hamilton, Ohio, is ready to cash in.

THE WOODLANDS, Tex. - Bank information technology officers have a lot on their minds these days.