California

Under orders from its regulators to boost a key capital ratio, Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa, Calif., announced that it has already raised $11.2 million of fresh capital and has a deal in place to raise $27.3 million more.

A small Silicon Valley bank that lends primarily to technology startups has opened a lending office in incubator space in Boston.

Broadway Financial in Los Angeles is planning to close two of its five branches as part of a broader plan to trim overhead and preserve capital.

After initially warning investors that it expected to report a loss of $4.6 million in the second quarter, Wilshire Bancorp in Los Angeles now says that it turned a $2.1 million profit.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has ordered three community banks hobbled by losses on real estate loans to raise fresh capital or merge with other banks.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced written agreements with four banks, including the $2 billion-asset Old Second Bancorp Inc. in Aurora, Ill.

First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. in Chula Vista, Calif., said Wednesday that it raised an additional $542,500 from a common stock offering after its underwriters exercised a small portion of an overallotment option.

Bolstered by improved credit quality and growing demand for Small Business Administration loans, Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles reported its fourth-consecutive quarterly profit in the three months that ended June 30.

Analysts at Sandler O'Neill & Partners have raised earnings estimates for City National Corp. after the Los Angeles company reported strong second-quarter earnings growth that was aided by improved asset quality and "promising" gains in its commercial-and-industrial loan portfolio.

SVB Financial Group said Thursday that its second quarter earnings more than tripled what it made a year earlier, to $65.8 million.

Hanmi Financial Corp. in Los Angeles remained in the black for the third consecutive quarter, posting an $8 million profit in the quarter that ended June 30, compared to a net loss of $29 million in last year's second quarter.

With loan demand still weak in most of its markets, Westamerica Bancorporation in San Rafael, Calif., said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit fell by nearly 10% from the same period last year, to $21.3 million.

Floating loans to movie producers and rock stars may not be the banking industry's cure-all. But for a pair of banks, the entertainment business has provided a well-timed safe harbor.

The Los Angeles company is now telling investors it may scale back its ambitions and raise only what it needs to complete its acquisition of rival Center Financial Corp.

Eagle Bancorp Inc. in Bethesda, Md., said last week that it has received a $56.6 million investment from Treasury and that it will use about $23.2 million of that to repay the remaining balance on a loan it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Driven by improved asset quality and a widening net interest margin, PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles reported a profit of $12.8 million in the second quarter, nearly five times what it earned in the same period last year.

Directors at Nara Bancorp Inc. and Center Financial Corp. will have a few more months to deliberate over the planned merger of the two companies.

Linda Nahra, the president and chief executive at Community West Bancshares in Goleta, Calif., has notified the company that she is stepping down at the end of the month to pursue another business opportunity.

Merger-and-acquisition activity may be slow in most regions of the country, but it is picking up steam in California.

First PacTrust Bancorp in Chula Vista, Calif., said late Tuesday that it expects to raise about $31.5 million from selling common stock.