California

WASHINGTON — TD Bank of Wilmington, Del., purchased three separate failed banks in Florida late Friday, totaling $3.9 billion in assets, on a night that saw a total of eight bank collapses.

Westamerica Bancorp. of San Rafael, Calif., announced Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings fell 55% from a year earlier, to $23.6 million, as its credit costs remained relatively low but were significantly higher than a year earlier.

Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in Costa Mesa, Calif., reported a $6.8 million loss for the fourth quarter, cutting its loss nearly in half from a year earlier, with the improvement primarily driven by a lower provision for loan losses.

Central Valley Community Bancorp in Fresno, Calif., filed Tuesday to register roughly 1.3 million shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Community Bank of the Bay in Oakland, Calif., raised $5 million of fresh capital Monday, after closing the first tranche of a public offering.

A research note from Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP last week said the $1.3 billion-asset company was required to increase capital levels, reduce problem assets, reduce exposure to construction and land loans and create a liquidity management plan.

BofI Holding Inc. in San Diego has announced plans to raise $13.19 million in a public stock offering. The $1.4 billion-asset company, whose business niche is providing banking services over the Internet, priced the offering of 1.066 million shares at $13 per share on Tuesday, 7% under its stock's Monday closing price of $14.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday issued enforcement actions against two bank holding companies.

The $667 million-asset bank, in danger of failing with more than 10% of its assets not performing, was under orders from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to more than double its leverage ratio by early February and then take it up another notch by March 8. But the agency gave the Korean-focused subsidiary of Saehan Bancorp more time, and after several false starts, the bank raised $60.5 million.

In recent weeks some bank stocks have been delisted for failing to meet the market's $1 minimum bid price requirement, and as Nasdaq cracks down, other banks are choosing to delist voluntarily before they get kicked out.

In what would be the biggest credit union merger to date, Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union and First Tech Credit Union have announced an agreement to combine and create a credit union with almost $5 billion of assets.

Heritage Oaks Bancorp in Paso Robles, Calif., said it plans to raise $60 million through a private placement of preferred shares.

City National Corp. in Los Angeles announced Thursday that it has completed repaying the Treasury Department's $400 million investment made under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Valley Commerce Bancorp of Visalia, Calif., said it lost $2.1 million in the fourth quarter, compared with earnings of $417,000 a year earlier.

California United Bank in Encino on Monday announced a 63% decline in profits for 2009 compared with 2008.

PacWest Bancorp in San Diego has sold off a significant portion of its troubled loans at a steep discount in an attempt to refocus on growth.

Sonoma Valley Bancorp has been required to restate its third-quarter results after a recent regulatory exam.

Small banks face myriad and often frustrating obstacles to acquiring failed banks. But some smart strategies have separated the successful bidders from the rest, including raising excess capital well before a bid, targeting fewer and smaller banks, tracking enforcement actions of potential failures and bringing in well-seasoned management to see a deal through.

WASHINGTON — Four failures late Friday cost the government an additional $1 billion.Among the closings, which brought the year's total to 20, was that of $3.6 billion-asset La Jolla Bank in La Jolla, Calif. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold La Jolla's operations to OneWest Bank in Pasadena in the second recent deal for the buyers of the failed IndyMac Bank.

The Office of Thrift Supervision has issued a prompt corrective action against La Jolla Bank FSB of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., ordering the thrift to merge with another institution or sell off nearly all of its assets and liabilities to become at least "adequately capitalized."