Washington

Nasdaq is giving a number of struggling companies a little more breathing room, making it easier for stocks to stay on the exchange even after falling short of listing requirements.

Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane, Wash., announced plans Thursday for a 1-for-66 reverse stock split.

The $1.9 billion-asset company announced Thursday morning that it has one more day to satisfy the closing conditions of a recapitalization deal with its largest shareholder, David F. Bolger, and Donald Marron's Lightyear Capital LLC.

Cascade Financial Corp., which received a government bailout, is among three small bank holding companies the Federal Reserve is scrutinizing.

Regulators failed four banks late Friday, pushing the total number of collapses this year to 143. Closures are now are at their highest point since the S&L crisis.

The $1.5 billion-asset AmericanWest last week announced the sale of its banking subsidiary to a heavily capitalized investor group, SKBHC Holdings LLC, in a bankruptcy court bidding procedure.

After its $730 million recapitalization, Sterling Financial reported third-quarter net income to common shareholders of $33.6 million.

Banner Corp. of Walla Walla, Wash., has warned investors to be ready for a particularly large loss for the third quarter.

The failures late Friday of the $421 million-asset Wakulla Bank in Crawfordville, Fla., and the $104 million-asset Shoreline Bank in Shoreline, Wash., were estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a total of $155 million.

Less than a month after completing a recapitalization, the $9.7B-asset company cleared another major hurdle Monday as regulators rescinded a year-old cease-and-desist order.

Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane, Wash., said that regulators have lifted a cease-and-desist order under which it was operating just one month after the company completed a recapitalization.

First Financial Northwest Inc. in Renton, Wash., said that its bank unit has entered into a formal agreement with its regulators.

Two failures on opposite coasts Friday evening brought the year's toll to 127. Florida regulators closed the $148 million-asset Haven Trust Bank in Ponte Vedra Beach. Later, the $289 million-asset North County Bank in Arlington, Wash., was shuttered.

Umpqua Bank said Wednesday that it is opening a commercial banking center in northern Nevada that will be led by a former US Bank commercial banking veteran in that market.

Cascade Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., received a warning from the Nasdaq that it does not comply with the market's listing requirements.

Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane said Thursday it has completed a $730 million capital raise, including an expansion of its investments from two firms leading the recapitalization.

Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane has found a way to raise $730 million in fresh capital, including an expansion of its investments from the private-equity firms Warburg Pincus LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP.

Columbia Banking System Inc. in Tacoma, Wash., has repaid the $76.9 million it received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

When Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane, Wash., merged its two bank units last week, few may have noticed, but many community bankers could relate. Companies that cannot get their hands on fresh capital are scrambling for a Plan B these days.

Five bank closures in four states Friday cost the federal government an additional $334 million in losses.