Americas

With problem real estate loans continuing to pile up, Western Liberty Bancorp in Las Vegas announced Monday that it lost $2.4 million in the fourth quarter and $14.2 million for the full year.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed two Midwestern banks Friday, bringing the failure tally so far this year to nine. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as the receiver of the failed national banks, was able to find other institutions to resolve the failures.

Hana Financial Group of Seoul, South Korea, has agreed to buy newly issued shares of common stock, and a 51% ownership interest, in Saehan Bancorp in Los Angeles.

Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. in Madison reported another quarterly loss.

Evans Bancorp Inc. in Angola, N.Y., has reported that fourth-quarter income more than doubled from a year ago, to $1.3 million, due to higher net interest income and a lower provision for loan and lease losses.

VIST Financial Corp. in Wyomissing, Pa., said after markets closed Thursday that it lost $24.6 million in the fourth quarter after it wrote down $25 million of goodwill in connection with its pending sale to Tompkins Financial Corp. of Ithaca, N.Y.

Add Minnesota Bank & Trust in Edina to the growing list of community banks bulking up in mortgage lending in hopes of capturing market share from larger banks.

Regulators have ordered the banking unit of AB&T Financial Corp. in Gastonia, N.C., to improve its asset quality and evaluate its allowance for loan losses.

With numerous attractive institutions and robust growth markets, the state could kickstart a round of traditional deals nationwide. The only problem? Texas bankers also know they're attractive, and the most comely banks aren't interested in low-priced dates.

Shares of NASB Financial Inc. rose more than 6% Wednesday after the Grandview, Mo., thrift company said it earned $4.9 million in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared to a loss of $3 million in the the same period in 2010.