Florida

WASHINGTON — Regulators closed three more banks Friday evening to bring the year's failure total to 133.

When a group of would-be bank organizers recently landed a small Florida institution, they were foreshadowing the near-term future of industry M&A.

Bank of Miami said Wednesday that it has gained more than $11 million of capital this quarter. The $608 million-asset bank in Coral Gables, Fla., said it sold $2.5 million of trust-preferred securities in a private placement with its shareholders and realized a $9 million tax benefit.

Starting Jan. 1 institutions that are less than well-capitalized must comply with new restrictions on deposit rates. They will not be allowed to pay more than 75 basis points over a national average calculated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A fresh shot of capital has moved Mercantile Bancorp Inc.'s Florida unit back into regulators' good graces.

The parent company of AmTrust Bank filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, casting doubt on the future of the Cleveland bank's more than 60 branches.

Mercantile Bancorp Inc. is shedding half its banks in a series of deals that illustrates the financial contortions some companies need to survive the recession.

Regulators closed Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida Friday, the Sunshine State's third failure in a week.

First National Bank of Florida in Milton has agreed to use core banking technology from Jack Henry & Associates, again.

Bank of Florida in Naples, which is under regulatory pressure to raise capital, has postponed a $135 million stock offering, saying market conditions have deteriorated.

In a bid to get its bank unit adequately capitalized, Horizon Bancorp. Inc. in Bradenton, Fla., is trying to raise $5 million in a private placement of convertible preferred stock.

Two failures in Florida, including the collapse of Naples-based Orion Bank, and another in California late Friday brought the year's total to 123.

A thrift's unusually structured deal to take over a nonbank commercial lender encapsulates the key challenges facing both sectors: capital for the depositories and funding for the finance companies.

Failures in 2009 shot past the 100-mark late Friday as regulators swooped into seven community banks in the Midwest and southeast.

Failures in 2009 shot past the 100-mark late Friday as regulators swooped into seven community banks in the Midwest and southeast.

The industry marked a stark milestone Friday — the 100th bank failure of 2009. It is the first time since 1992 that failures hit triple digits.

After years of idling, Florida Shores Bancorp Inc. is shifting into high gear with a new strategy that reflects changes in the regulatory and economic environment since the company's founding.

In what it is calling a first step toward replenishing its capital, Mercantile Bancorp Inc. in Quincy, Ill., said it intends to merge its flailing Florida bank with a stronger unit.

A small Florida bank raised $70 million through an initial public offering Wednesday, in what is believed to be the first such deal in the banking sector in two years.

Jay Kislak, chairman of the real estate investment company J.I. Kislak Inc., has applied to receive a shelf charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.