Illinois

Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat in a race for the Senate against five-term U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican, warned of the possible fate of his family's Broadway Bank during a Wednesday meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board, according to local media reports. Giannoulias would not comment to American Banker.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. has won another round in its battle for recapitalization, as a result of an unusual move by the Treasury Department.

Taylor Capital Group Inc. in Rosemont, Ill., announced it is selling its corporate trust business to Amalgamated Bank of Chicago.

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.

A Chicago entrepreneur is suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to win back capital he invested in a bank in the months before it failed.

Fourth-quarter earnings reports from small and midsize banking companies showcase some favorable trends, notably that credit deterioration appears to be stabilizing and deposits have bloomed on many balance sheets.

Loan sales helped a growing number of community banks push some of their problems out the door in the fourth quarter.

With dwindling capital and mounting losses, ShoreBank Corp. in Chicago is seeking a bailout from the state of Illinois.

After nearly two years of rapid asset growth, PrivateBancorp Inc. in Chicago is expected to have a much slower 2010 as it gets its financial house in order.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. has won one round in its battle for recapitalization. The $3.5 billion-asset company in Melrose Park, Ill., announced Friday that it persuaded 82% of its Series A preferred shareholders to convert to common shareholders.

WASHINGTON — In an unusual congressional hearing, regulators were essentially put on trial Thursday for having closed a Chicago-based chain of community banks last fall.

The government seized banks in three states late Friday, bringing the failure total in the new year to four.

Bank consultants say the double denial could signal that the significantly undercapitalized Amcore is running out of options and that without dramatic action to restore its languishing capital the bank's days could be numbered.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., on Thursday announced the pricing of its public offering, of 16.4 million shares of common stock.

The $4 billion-asset company in Rockford, Ill., announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the company's Dec. 4 capital plan for its Amcore Bank unit, saying it was not based on realistic assumptions.

A bank holding company based in Chicago has agreed not to declare or pay dividends without Federal Reserve approval.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. in Melrose Park, Ill., said credit quality continued to deteriorate at its subsidiary bank in the fourth quarter, and warned the bank's capital ratios are expected to fall from a well-capitalized level at the end of the third quarter to undercapitalized for the fourth quarter.

Upon disclosing its third and largest branch deal Tuesday, Amcore Financial Inc. made another announcement: its capital ratios are finally headed in the right direction.

An Illinois banking company has agreed to submit a plan designed to improve the condition of the lender, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.