Thirteen years ago Community Bank of Florida in Homestead was at the center of Hurricane Andrew's devastation, and dozens of volunteers, including many bankers, helped it get its offices up and running again and meet the basic needs of its employees.

First State Bancorp of Albuquerque has a simple growth strategy: beef up in and around its hometown and establish itself in other fast-growing markets of the Southwest.

Continuing the aggressive southern California expansion it has pursued almost without letup since it was founded, First Community Bancorp of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is buying Cedars Bank in Los Angeles.

Equity analysts initiated coverage on a number of West Coast banking companies this week.

MIDWEST

About 1,000 EmigrantDirect.com customers in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina found a surprise $1,000 deposit in their savings accounts last week, compliments of the online bank.

Profit Technologies Corp. seems to have taken to heart the old adage of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

Gulf Coast bankers and at least two prominent lawmakers want Congress to give the Small Business Administration billions of dollars of special funding authority it could use to guarantee long-term, low-cost bank loans in the Katrina-ravaged region.

For 33 years Chevis Swetman has had a two-mile commute to his job at Peoples Bank in Biloxi, Miss. But since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast two weeks ago, his commute has become even shorter - a 10-foot walk down a hallway.

Community banks have long had a reputation of delivering better service than their big-bank counterparts, but small-business owners say that the customer-service gap is narrowing.

Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J., which has been offering managed account services to midsize banks since mid-2004, will start going after smaller banks next year.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Cathay General Bancorp in Los Angeles has entered into option agreements to buy a 41% stake in the $307 million-asset Great Eastern Bank in New York City for about $28.4 million.

Hurricane Katrina did not drop much rain on the Plains states, but farmers there are feeling the storm’s aftereffects.

After going nearly three years without making an acquisition, First State Bancorp of Albuquerque has announced two deals in less than a week.

New Collateral Rules Expected to Boost Lending

Despite bankers’ repeated complaints about excessive regulation, many of them are actually doing more than is required of them in corporate governance.

Daryl G. Byrd, the president and chief executive of Iberiabank Corp. of Lafayette, La., said he expects Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and other cities near New Orleans to grow fast as families and businesses displaced by Hurricane Katrina begin to rebuild.

Whitney Holding Corp. of New Orleans has moved senior managers to Houston and started reopening branches in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina.

A pioneer of the super community banking structure, Financial Institutions Inc. in Warsaw, N.Y., is consolidating its four bank subsidiaries to cut costs and get a better grip on the internal-control and credit-quality problems that have dogged it for the past three years.