For the second straight quarter, PacWest Bancorp in San Diego is taking a large impairment charge related to a string of acquisitions it has made this decade.

First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque plans to close its two Utah branches by Oct. 31 in an effort to strengthen its capital position and help it weather the economic downturn.

This year is shaping up to be the slowest for bank mergers and acquisitions in nearly two decades, and with many banks either hanging on to capital or wary of inheriting another bank's problem loans, the pace of dealmaking is unlikely to pick up again until late 2009 or perhaps even 2010, industry observers say.

The National Credit Union Administration is considering an industry request to ease restrictions on construction and development lending, though acknowledging that construction loans are particularly risky these days.

A struggling Franklin Bank in Houston is readjusting the losses and earnings it reported over the past three quarters, mostly for the better.

A sagging stock price could get Omni Financial Services Inc. delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Security Bank Corp. in Macon, Ga., is warning that it might take a goodwill impairment charge in the second quarter.

Ronald J. Carlson has been appointed board chairman and acting president and chief executive officer of the $422 million-asset 1st Pacific Bancorp in San Diego.

AmericasBank Corp. of Towson, Md., plans to go private and close its mortgage lending unit to cut expenses and increase profitability.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has cited Family Bank and Trust Co. in the Chicago suburb of Palos Hills, Ill., for a weakened capital position and unsound management.

Unsuccessful in its bid last year to buy Cowlitz Bancorp outright, a private-equity firm has a new plan: Buy up enough shares to become the Longview, Wash., company's largest shareholder, and then pressure the board and management to make changes that would boost profits.

Given its markets, the high level of nonperforming loans on its books, and investors' wariness to throw more money at troubled banks, raising the $400 million BankUnited Financial Corp. says it needs is a tall order.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that it took a one-time $66 million charge against its second-quarter earnings as a result of an ownership restructuring at its Westfield Capital Management.

PrivateBancorp Inc.'s strategy for replacing LaSalle Bank Corp. as the Chicago area's top middle-market lender has been to hire dozens of LaSalle bankers with thick Rolodexes, and its next pickup could be its biggest one yet.

The troubled Franklin Bank Corp. of Houston said late Monday that it has named a new interim chief executive and received another extension for filing its 2007 annual report.

TierOne Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., said Monday that it will close all nine of its loan production offices and will focus instead on lending through bank branches in its home markets of Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Arco gas stations in California have become favorite targets of thieves who use skimmers to steal debit card information and empty consumers' checking accounts.

A Pennsylvania bank under orders from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to restrict its insider dealings is trying to dump its national charter in favor of a state charter.

As if losses in their real estate and construction loan portfolios were not worrisome enough, small banks are starting to see problems crop up in another less expected area: their investment portfolios.