Americas

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed Alabama Trust Bank in Sylacauga on Friday, making it Alabama’s first bank failure in more than a year.

The former chief financial officer of the failed Tennessee Commerce Bank has taken the same role at First Financial Service Corporation, a struggling Kentucky bank.

Activist investor Joseph Stilwell is not winning much outside support in his bid to force changes at First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash.

Central Bank in Stillwater, Minn., is buying another distressed bank. It has a deal to buy the struggling Bank of Naples in Florida.

MetroCorp Bancshares (MCBI) in Houston has commenced a public stock offering to raise $40 million of common equity.

The Japanese parent of Union Bank in San Francisco announced Tuesday that the bank's chief executive, Masashi Oka, has taken on the additional title of CEO for the Americas.

StellarOne (STEL) in Charlottesville, Va., is planning to eliminate about 4% of its workforce, or 34 full-time jobs, as part of an overall cost-cutting effort that it says would save the company up to $2.4 million a year.

Continuing its rapid expansion in mortgage banking, Cardinal Financial (CFNL) in McLean, Va., announced Monday that its home lending subsidiary, George Mason Mortgage, has opened an office in the Baltimore suburbs.

The investment group Castine Capital Management has been sharply reducing its ownership stake in First California Financial Group (FCAL) even as it has been pressuring the company to sell itself.

After putting its initial public offering plans on ice, Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., has placed $270 million of its investment portfolio on the auction block.