North Central Bancshares Inc. in Fort Dodge, Iowa, announced fourth-quarter earnings Thursday of $1.31 million, down 0.75% from a year earlier.

AmericanWest Bancorp in Spokane said fourth-quarter earnings dropped 32% from a year earlier, to $9.5 million, because of bigger provisions for loan losses and writedowns on foreclosed assets.

A dozen community banks in Missouri have teamed up to form a surcharge-free automated teller machine network and hope to enroll hundreds of banks and thrifts nationwide in the next few years.

Wainwright Bank and Trust Co. in Boston said Thursday that it had earned $1.5 million in the fourth quarter, 36% more than a year earlier.

First California Bank in Camarillo is buying South Coast Bancorp Inc. in Irvine, Calif., for $36 million in cash - about two times book value.

Indiana lawmakers are mulling a bill that would give state tax breaks to small banks for investing in local development.

MIDWEST

About two years after buying its first and only U.S. bank, the Dutch giant Rabobank is raising its profile here.

If Peoples State Bank in Jeffersonville, Ga., was in any other state, Capitol Bancorp Ltd. would not have had much interest in buying it.

Largely because of cost concerns, a bill introduced by Nebraska Congressman Tom Osborne last year to give banks and thrifts tax breaks for lending in rural areas did not even receive a hearing.

Community bankers worry that big banks will use complex services to woo away their customers. A visit I made to a Bank of America branch in Summit, N.J., my hometown, may cast some light on such fears.

Chemical Financial Corp. of Midland, Mich., announced Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose 5.9%, to $14.4 million. Diluted earnings per share were 54 cents, 5.6% more than a year earlier.

Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane said Monday that fourth-quarter earnings jumped 72% from a year earlier, to $15.5 million. Earnings for all of 2004 rose 60%, to $56 million.

It had been a tense few weeks for a California high school band since two local travel agents to whom members had paid $100,000 for a trip to China were arrested and charged with stealing from customers.

Cardinal Financial Corp. of Tysons Corner, Va., said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 59% from a year earlier, to $1.7 million.

Community banks are more than holding their own in the face of heavier competition for small-business loans from large banks and even credit unions.

The Banc Corp.’s James Taylor and C. Stanley Bailey last worked together 40 years ago, when Mr. Taylor, fresh out of college, was coaching a high school basketball team and Mr. Bailey was one of his players.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has dismissed a class action against Gold Banc Corp. Inc. and its subsidiary bank.

Fourth-quarter earnings were lackluster at many thrift companies, and the forecast for the first part of this year looks similarly glum.