Illinois

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.

CFS Bancorp in Munster, Ind., is exploring its strategic options, including the possibility of selling itself.

In a move that should help stressed banks avoid public relations fiascoes, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has toned down the harsh wording of orders it issues to such institutions.

The significantly undercapitalized Amcore Financial Inc. is warning that its bank might fail if it cannot come up with an acceptable capital plan within a few weeks.

Donald Marron, whose Lightyear Capital LLC agreed to inject $40 million into Cascade, said that his team has met with roughly 150 management teams at midsize community banks in the past year.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. dusted off rarely used authority to charge the banks for the resolution costs of the other seven insolvencies — ultimately causing the $4.7 billion-asset Park National in Oak Park, Ill., and the $118 million-asset Citizens National Bank in Teague, Texas, to fail as well.

Over a year after being hit hard by the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FBOP Corp.'s nine banks totaling $19B in assets were closed by the government Friday night.

In reporting the loss of $156.4 million — by far the largest of its seven consecutive quarterly losses — William R. McManaman, Amcore's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a press release that a stock offering would be unlikely to succeed but that it continues to pursue other options for raising capital.

Suprisingly sharp deterioration of its commercial real estate loans forced PrivateBancorp Inc. in Chicago to a $31.2 million loss in the third quarter and sent its stock tumbling Monday.

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.

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.

Regulators have strengthened an order against Second Federal Savings and Loan in Chicago, directing the $251 million-asset thrift to hold more capital than usually expected of institutions.

But First Busey raised $122 million last week, becoming the latest example of a struggling company to find investors in the thawing capital markets.

The Federal Reserve Board has ordered Bankers' Bancorp Inc. in Springfield, Ill., and its subsidiary Independent Bankers' Bank, to improve accounting practices.

With its stock trading under a dollar since June 23, Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. is in danger of being delisted.

Michael E. Kelly, the billionaire who built FBOP Corp. by snapping up ailing banks around the country in the 1980s and 1990s, now may have to give up some control of this far-flung empire — or lose all of it.

FBOP Corp. of Oak Park, Ill., which is low on capital at five of its nine banks, has a written agreement with regulators requiring it to improve quickly.

Time ran out on Corus Bank late Friday as regulators closed the once-high-flying Chicago condominium lender and sold its operations to another institution.

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut five banks in Iowa, Missouri, Arizona and Illinois late Friday, raising the number of failures this year to 89.