Americas

Britton & Koontz Capital Corp. in Natchez, Miss., reported a fourth-quarter profit despite a rise in nonperforming assets.

Sierra Bancorp in Porterville, Calif., reported a dip in fourth-quarter earnings that it attributed Monday to bigger losses associated with foreclosed properties.

The State Employees' Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., started an estate planning and will preparation pilot program last week.

Fidelity Southern Corp. in Atlanta returned to full-year profitability after earning $3 million in the fourth quarter. The $1.91 billion-asset company lost $3.9 million in 2009 but earned $10.1 million last year.

Virginia Heritage Bank in Fairfax reported $1.3 million of fourth-quarter net income, an 86.5% increase from a year earlier.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 50% from a year earlier, to $14.2 million.

The $13.1 billion-asset company said Monday that its earnings were up slightly from a year earlier, to $40.6 million, or 84 cents a share.

Pacific Commerce Bank in Los Angeles said Monday that it raised $5 million in a private placement this month.

The Cincinnati company will provide services including debit card processing, automated teller machine driving, fraud protection and card production to First New Mexico Bank of Deming, N.M.; Valley Bank of Commerce in Roswell, N.M.; and First State Bank of Mesquite, Texas. First New Mexico has 13 ATMs, Valley Bank has two ATMs and First State Bank has four ATMs.

With regulators catching flak for taking too long to close "zombie" institutions, the failure of United Western Bank seemed atypically quick.