A New Jersey community banking company has received Federal Reserve permission to boost to nearly 25% its stake in a local rival - many of whose investors and customers told the Fed they oppose the plan.

A hurricane tax-relief bill the Senate passed before adjourning for its Christmas vacation contained a bank industry-supported provision to amend a year-old law on subchapter S corporations.

With some New Orleans banks struggling in the face of potential loan defaults and chargeoffs, a group of Louisiana bankers has applied to charter a new bank in the city.

Cathay General Bancorp Inc. of Los Angeles has received approval from the New York State Banking Department to acquire up to 100% of the shares of the $310 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York City.

TransCommunity Financial Corp. of Richmond, Va., said its chairman and chief executive, William C. Wiley, will leave when his two-year contract expires Dec. 31.

The $1.17 billion-asset Center Bancorp Inc. of Union, N.J., has joined the tide of community banking companies restructuring their balance sheets.

Rabobank Group's bold bid to buy one of the Farm Credit System's largest lenders collapsed more than a year ago, but regulators clearly have not forgotten about it.

Despite repeated rejections, TrustCo Bank Corp NY of Glenville is not giving up on its bid to buy Ballston Spa Bancorp.

Gateway Financial Holdings Inc. of Virginia Beach said Friday that it plans to raise $30 million in a secondary stock offering and use part of the proceeds to fund branch expansion.

The Treasury Department has extended the application deadline for its Community Development Financial Institutions grants so applicants can become better acquainted with a new online process.

First Community Bancorp in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., has been expanding mainly through bite-size acquisitions since it was founded in 2000, but on Thursday its struck its biggest deal ever.

Community bankers are hoping that the Securities and Exchange Commission will adopt an advisory panel's recommendations to give small companies relief from the internal-controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Facing increased criticism over the Small Business Administration's response to the Gulf Coast hurricanes, SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto defended his agency's performance Thursday and praised the work of its employees.

MIDWESTS.Y. Bancorp Inc. of Louisville has promoted T. Clay Stinnett to chief strategic officer, a newly created job.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chief said Wednesday that despite the challenges Gulf Coast banks face as they try to rebuild from this year's hurricanes, he does not expect any will fail.

First BanCorp of San Juan, Puerto Rico, said Tuesday that pending accounting corrections could leave its main subsidiary, FirstBank, below regulators' definition of "well capitalized."

Premier Financial Corp. in Huntington, W.Va., announced Tuesday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Kentucky Office of Financial Institutions had terminated a cease-and-desist order against one of its subsidiaries, Farmers Deposit Bank in Eminence, Ky.

Bank Calumet of Hammond, Ind., is an anomaly in its home state. While the average bank and thrift in Indiana has a loan-to-deposit ratio of above 100%, Bank Calumet is a more conservative lender, with a ratio of less than 75%.

ESB Financial Corp. of Ellwood City, Pa., said it expects to take a $2.5 million pretax loss in the fourth quarter as a result of a balance-sheet restructuring.