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.

The $9.9 billion-asset First Federal Bank of California has joined the growing list of banks and thrifts with online-only units meant to gather deposits.

Summit Bank Corp. of Atlanta announced Monday that it is buying a Houston bank that targets Asian-Americans.

A quirk in New York State's municipal finance law effectively bars savings institutions in the state from accepting government deposits, but a handful are taking advantage of ways around the prohibition.

The directors of the Louisiana Bankers Association and the Community Bankers of Louisiana have agreed to merge into a single trade group to represent all banks in the Bayou State.

F.N.B. Corp. of Hermitage, Pa., announced a balance-sheet restructuring Thursday that it said will result in an $11.2 million charge against fourth-quarter earnings.

Former shareholders of Napa Community Bank in California are suing the bank's parent, Capitol Bancorp Ltd. of Lansing, Mich., claiming Capitol paid too little for their shares when it acquired them in June.

Looking back on nearly 28 years as a bank trade group executive, Samuel J. Damiano says the high point came early on.

Like many other community banks, the $139 million-asset Cattaraugus County Bank in Little Valley, N.Y., devotes a healthy amount of resources to currency-transaction reports.

Responding to a shareholder's request for a sale, Carroll C. Markley, the chairman and chief executive of Millennium Bankshares Corp. of Reston, Va., said it remains strong and is conducting "strategic initiatives" to improve profitability.