Bank Calumet of Hammond, Ind., is an anomaly in its home state. While the average bank and thrift in Indiana has a loan-to-deposit ratio of above 100%, Bank Calumet is a more conservative lender, with a ratio of less than 75%.

ESB Financial Corp. of Ellwood City, Pa., said it expects to take a $2.5 million pretax loss in the fourth quarter as a result of a balance-sheet restructuring.

The $9.9 billion-asset First Federal Bank of California has joined the growing list of banks and thrifts with online-only units meant to gather deposits.

Summit Bank Corp. of Atlanta announced Monday that it is buying a Houston bank that targets Asian-Americans.

A quirk in New York State's municipal finance law effectively bars savings institutions in the state from accepting government deposits, but a handful are taking advantage of ways around the prohibition.

The directors of the Louisiana Bankers Association and the Community Bankers of Louisiana have agreed to merge into a single trade group to represent all banks in the Bayou State.

F.N.B. Corp. of Hermitage, Pa., announced a balance-sheet restructuring Thursday that it said will result in an $11.2 million charge against fourth-quarter earnings.

Former shareholders of Napa Community Bank in California are suing the bank's parent, Capitol Bancorp Ltd. of Lansing, Mich., claiming Capitol paid too little for their shares when it acquired them in June.

Looking back on nearly 28 years as a bank trade group executive, Samuel J. Damiano says the high point came early on.

Like many other community banks, the $139 million-asset Cattaraugus County Bank in Little Valley, N.Y., devotes a healthy amount of resources to currency-transaction reports.

Responding to a shareholder's request for a sale, Carroll C. Markley, the chairman and chief executive of Millennium Bankshares Corp. of Reston, Va., said it remains strong and is conducting "strategic initiatives" to improve profitability.

Trying to pinpoint the next acquisition target in the banking sector is something of a sport on Wall Street and on Wednesday two investment banking companies weighed in with their choices.

NEW ENGLANDBank Rhode Island of Providence has hired Jeffrey W. Angus as its chief operating officer.

Banner Corp. in Walla Walla, Wash., has been able to build core deposits so well through branch-building that it is vastly reducing its reliance on more costly Federal Home Loan Bank advances.

Though its latest acquisition deal is its biggest ever, Wintrust Financial Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill., is not looking for even bigger targets, its chief executive says.

Intermountain Community Bancorp in Sandpoint, Idaho, is planning to use its nearly $12 million of net proceeds from a recent oversubscribed stock offering to open branches in new markets and make more loans.

TrustCo Bank Corp NY has not acquired a bank since July 2000, but not for lack of effort.

America's Community Bankers announced Monday that its for-profit subsidiary, ACB Business Partners Inc., has endorsed Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. as the exclusive investment bank for ACB members.

Banks looking for new customers and more deposits might be able to find them in low-income neighborhoods mostly served by check cashers, payday lenders, and other fringe financial institutions, a study by the National Community Investment Fund says.