Ohio

Legislators are considering a proposed tax overhaul that would move $30 million of taxes from community banks to larger banks. With smaller bills, community banks say they can lend more.

United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio reported a fourth-quarter profit of $7.9 million, compared with a loss of $17.3 million a year earlier, after selling four branches.

Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, has tapped an insider to succeed John Kozak when he retires as chief financial officer next year.

First Place Financial Corp. in Warren, Ohio said it was not able to file its results for the quarter ending Dec. 31, marking its sixth consecutive quarter in the dark, as its massive multi-year restatement drags on.

Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, swung to a profit in the fourth quarter but still earned less than what analysts were expecting.

NB&T Financial Group Inc. in Wilmington, Ohio, said it expects fourth-quarter provision for loan losses to be "substantially" higher than it was last quarter due to a likely default on a loan to a single commercial customer that has $1 million balance.

Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, warned in a regulatory filing Wednesday that its 2011 loan-loss provision will be higher than anticipated after regulators said its Vision Bank unit improperly accounted for guarantor-support loans.

United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio, said Wednesday that it raised about $2 million from selling 1.6 million shares of common stock to an unnamed investor.

Hometown Bancorp in Kent, Ohio, has changed the name of its banking unit to Hometown Bank from Home Savings Bank.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati and MidSouth Bancorp Inc. in Lafayette, La., have finalized separate acquisitions.

KeyBank said Wednesday it has appointed Rodney Drake as vice president and coordinator for its program geared towards low-income and underserved customers.

FirstMerit Corp. in Akron, Ohio, reported third-quarter earnings of $31.7 million, up about 9% year over year, thanks to increased commercial lending activity and fewer problem assets. Earnings per share were rose 7%, to 29 cents, beating analysts' estimates by a penny, according to Thomson Reuters.

Under an order from regulators to raise fresh capital, Central Federal Corp. in Fairlawn, Ohio, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday that its shareholders have approved a plan to more than quadruple its number of outstanding shares.

Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, said Tuesday that it had found a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting, tied to its use of a third-party contractor.

Central Federal Corp. in Fairlawn, Ohio, is set to bring in a new chief executive and president after it raises up to $37.5 million.

Battered by losses on soured loans, First Place Financial Corp. in Warren, Ohio, said this week that it is planning to restate its earnings for its past three fiscal years.

PVF Capital Corp. in Solon, Ohio, reported a loss of $2.6 million for its fiscal fourth quarter, a slight improvement from a year earlier.

With its coffers at capacity, the capital-flush Cincinnati company said recently it would raise its dividend to equal 100% of its quarterly earnings.

DCB Financial Corp. in Lewis Center, Ohio, is closing a quarter of its branches and cutting 18% of its workforce in the next 90 days, according to a news report.

First Place Financial Corp. said this week that it has launched an audit of its 2009 results and that it now operating under a cease-and-desist order from the Office of Thrift Supervision.