Illinois

First Financial Corp.'s willingness to pay nearly double the tangible book value for Freestar Bank outside of Chicago is the most expensive small bank deal in months.

Citizens First National Bank in Princeton, Ill., has been ordered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to beef up its capital levels and clean up its loan portfolio.

Wintrust Financial in Illinois is tired of hiding behind numerous brand names. The $15 billion-asset company has launched an advertising campaign to aggressively introduce the Wintrust brand in Chicago.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has ordered CB Holding Corp. in Aledo, Ill., to serve as a source of strength for its struggling bank unit, Country Bank.

First Busey Corp. in Champaign, Ill., has received $72.6 million from the Small Business Lending Fund, the largest award to date since the Treasury Department began disbursing funds to community banks last month.

Regulators closed banks in Florida, Georgia and Illinois Friday, all in places were many banks have already met their demise. On Thursday, a bank failed in Pennsylvania, one of just a handful to fail in that state in the last few years.

Former top executives at LaSalle Bank are looking to start a bank that would acquire the assets and deposits of failed banks in and around Chicago.

Mercantile Bancorp once believed that its bank in sleepy Quincy, Ill. was not enough. Now, that bank might hold the key to the company's survival.

On Tuesday, the $904 million-asset company said that Lee R. Keith, a director since 2009, as its interim president and chief executive. Keith succeeds Ted T. Awerkamp, who had served in those positions since 2007.

Aided by two acquisitions and sharply lower deposit costs, BankFinancial Corp. in Burr Ridge, Ill., swung to a profit of $1 million in the second quarter from a loss of $288,000 in the same period last year.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday disclosed written agreements with two banks.

Battered by loan troubles, Princeton National Bancorp Inc. Illinois announced after markets closed Friday that it lost $2.9 million, or 88 cents per share, in the quarter that ended June 30.

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

PrivateBancorp Inc. reported its fourth-straight quarterly profit Tuesday, but weak loan growth and declining revenue have raised questions about whether the Chicago company can maintain the momentum.

MB Financial Inc., which took an aggressive stance on its credit by purging bad loans, reported a $10 million net loss available for shareholders during the second quarter.

Improved asset quality and upticks in its commercial and mortgage lending helped Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Chicago narrow its loss in the second quarter.

Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago has promoted Chief Financial Officer William L. Morrison to president and chief operating officer and has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch veteran Michael G. O'Grady to be the new CFO.

The $14 billion-asset Wintrust struck a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday for the assets and deposits of First Chicago Bank and Trust, its third FDIC transaction this year.

American National Bankshares Inc. completed its 34.7M acquisition of MidCarolina Financial Corp. Seperately, Wintrust Financial said it completed its purchase of Great Lakes Advisors Inc.

Urban Partnership Bank has spent nearly a year finding ways to continue ShoreBank's mission of banking the underserved while also avoiding the failed bank's fate.