Americas

Southwest Bancorp Inc. in Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter loss after shedding $300 million in problem assets through a bulk loan sale.

Fueled by balance sheet growth, Signature Bank’s fourth-quarter profits rose 32% from a year earlier, to $40 million.

Fueled by a lower provision for loan losses and rising net interest income, Cathay General Bancorp's profits surged more than 68% in the fourth quarter, to $23.6 million, from a year earlier.

First Independent Bank has notified employees whose jobs will be eliminated after the Vancouver, Wash., bank is sold to Sterling Financial Corp. of Spokane, Wash.

Northwest Bancshares Inc. in Warren, Pa., said Monday that its fourth-quarter profits climbed 19%, to $15.2 million, from a year earlier as credit quality improved and fee income from trust and insurance services rose.

Community Bank System Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y., is planning to raise $50 million in a stock sale primarily to fund its acquisition of 19 upstate New York branches from rival First Niagara Financial Group Inc.

Bank of Hawaii Corp. in Honolulu said Monday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 3.4% from a year earlier, to $39.2 million, as a decline in credit costs and higher net interest income could not offset a steep drop in fee income.

Nine months after it announced plans to raise up to $75 million issuing common and preferred shares to new and existing investors, Intermountain Community Bancorp in Sandpoint, Idaho, said Sunday that it now intends to raise no more than $59 million.

WASHINGTON — In the first three closures of the year, regulators shuttered institutions in Georgia, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Bank of the West in El Paso, Texas, is changing its name to WestStar Bank to avoid confusion with a much larger San Francisco bank that shares its name.