Arizona

Capitol Bancorp Ltd.'s credit costs are shrinking, but its capital hole is only getting deeper. The $2.5 billion-asset company, which has dual headquarters in Phoenix and Lansing, Mich., reported on Thursday a loss of $22.8 million for the third quarter, a 56% improvement from the loss it reported a year earlier.

Arizona regulators this week seized control of the troubled mortgage insurance division of PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., according to a notice posted on the company's website.

Earnings for Western Alliance Bancorporation in Phoenix jumped 550% for the third quarter from a year ago to $13 million, due largely to strong loan growth and improved asset quality.

Meridian Bank is finally making money again after three years of heavy losses.

The embattled Capitol Bancorp Ltd. eked out a small profit in the first quarter, thanks largely to a $16.9 million gain on the conversion of trust-preferred securities to common equity.

Two community banks have signed up for Secure Vault Payments, according to eWise Systems USA Inc., the Denver company working with Nacha, the electronic payments association, to offer the technology.

A federal court agreed Thursday to let the National Credit Union Administration submit records under seal, bolstering its case for the April 15 conservatorship of Vensure Federal Credit Union.

Vensure Federal Credit Union in Mesa, Ariz., taken under conservatorship by the National Credit Union Administration two weeks ago, claimed that the NCUA knew all along that it was processing online bets for the two biggest poker websites.

For the first time in three years, the three banks of Western Alliance Bancorporation in Phoenix all turned a profit in the first quarter.

Vensure Federal Credit Union in Mesa, Ariz., was taken under conservatorship Friday by the National Credit Union Administration.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said last week it had issued prompt corrective action orders to four of Capitol's 24 banks, including its three largest, in February. The directive to each was clear: Sell stock to raise capital to adequate levels, or find a buyer.

Credit unions in Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming have voted to combine their three state credit union leagues, the latest consolidation of state trade associations.

Summit Bank in Prescott, Ariz., has put itself up for sale after its board determined it would not be able to raise enough capital to satisfy a regulatory order.

State Bank Corp. of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., cited credit costs and issues with deferred tax assets in posting a fourth-quarter loss of $2.9 million.

The embattled Capitol Bancorp Ltd. has boosted its common equity by $19.2 million following a trust-preferred securities exchange that garnered little interest from its debtholders.

Midwest banks have long been enamored with growth in sunny locations, but Enterprise Financial Services Corp. is using government-backed deals with loss-sharing agreements as protection.

As the epicenter of bank failures in 2010, Florida gave 2011 its first casualty. Florida was home to 18% of the 157 failures last year, with 29. Following a two-week hiatus, two banks failed on the first Friday of the new year.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd., which has headquarters in Lansing, Mich., and Phoenix, has commenced an exchange offer to holders of its trust-preferred securities.

The $4.2 billion-asset company plans to ask its shareholders, who have seen their stock drop 78% in value in the past year, to increase the number of authorized shares to 1.5 billion from 50 million at a meeting in late January.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has decided that four banks started by Capitol Bancorp Ltd. should not bear financial responsibility for the failure of a Florida bank.