Independent Bank Corp. Inc. in Rockland, Mass., announced late Sunday that it is acquiring the $981 million-asset Benjamin Franklin Bancorp Inc. in Franklin, Mass., for about $125 million in stock.

LANCASTER, Penn. – Lancaster Red Rose CU opened a new branch last week to serve the city’s growing Hispanic population in the Puerto Rican Cultural Center.

Pacific Capital Bancorp in Santa Barbara, Calif., said Thursday that it lost $47.5 million, or $1.03 a share, as it set aside nearly $64 million for problem loans and took a $22 million impairment charge on accumulated goodwill.

Buoyed by strong loans and deposit growth, EverBank Corp., an online banking company based in Jacksonville, Fla., said its third-quarter earnings rose 12% from a year earlier, to $5.3 million.

The next time you are in a team meeting where the discussion turns to customer service issues, confidently respond, "Within every problem lies opportunity."

When First Citizens Bancshares Inc. in Raleigh wanted to expand into Georgia and Florida in the late 1990s, it decided that its best course was to charter a thrift under a new name.

CapitalSource Inc. in Chevy Chase, Md., said it plans to give up its status as a real estate investment trust and reorganize as a bank holding company.

The bad news continues to pile up for Federal Trust Corp. in Sanford, Fla.

Guaranty Financial Group in Austin swung to a third-quarter loss of $162 million, in part because of continuing trouble with credit quality.

SOUTHEAST

Rarely do banking companies feel the need to write their shareholders to explain quarterly results.

Glacier Bancorp Inc. in Kalispell, Mont., is planning to issue up to 4.6 million shares in a public offering, and it said it would use the proceeds to "fund possible future acquisitions and for general corporate purposes."

Connecticut is sweetening its small-business loan programs in hopes of enticing bankers there to increase lending.

Central Bancorp in Somerville, Mass., said Tuesday that it lost $9.5 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 after taking a hefty impairment charge on its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock.

Guaranty Bancorp in Denver said Tuesday that it lost $265.8 million in the third quarter, or $5.21 per share, as it wrote off the remainder of its goodwill and beefed up loan-loss reserves.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corp. in Gladstone, N.J., said Monday that its third-quarter net income increased 33% from a year earlier, to $3.5 million.

BankFinancial Corp. in Burr Ridge, Ill., said Monday that it lost $25.1 million in the third quarter as a result of a large impairment charge it took on its holdings in Freddie Mac preferred stock.

Franklin Bank in Houston said it lost $246 million in the third quarter and that it intends to amend its second-quarter call report to show that it has been "significantly undercapitalized" since at least June 30.

Harrington West Financial Group Inc. in Solvang, Calif., said Monday that it swung to a loss $3.2 million, or 52 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter from a profit of $498,000 a year earlier.