Americas

Losses are shrinking at Mercantile Bank Corp. in Grand Rapids, Mich. The $1.6 billion-asset company reported Tuesday that it narrowed its fourth-quarter loss by 85% from a year earlier, to $5.3 million.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., on Tuesday reported lower quarterly earnings as credit costs stayed high. The $1.62 billion-asset company's said fourth-quarter earnings fell 22.2% from a year earlier, to $4 million, or 41 cents a share.

Intervest Bancshares Corp. in New York on Tuesday posted a narrow fourth-quarter profit, reversing a recent trend of losses.

North American Financial Holdings Inc. is one step closer to having its flagship bank. The bank holding company, which is backed by $900 million of equity from various investors, received approval Friday from the Federal Reserve to buy an 85% ownership stake in Capital Bank Corp. of Raleigh, N.C.

Executives at Comerica have highly valued Texas expansion for a long time — maybe too much in some eyes, after its big deal announcement Tuesday.

Comerica's agreement to buy Sterling Bancshares apparently scuttles an activist shareholder's plans to take over the target bank, but it doesn't mean he's on the losing end.

Cardinal Financial Corp. in McLean, Va., said Friday that it probably incurred a goodwill impairment charge of $2.6 million in the fourth quarter.

The $2.2 billion-asset United Western said in a Jan. 12 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had entered into its sixth forbearance agreement on a $16.25 million line of credit with the New York banking company.

State Bank and Trust of North Dakota has closed its purchase of Bell Mortgage, a lender based in Minneapolis.

Regulators Friday closed the $231 million-asset Oglethorpe Bank in Brunswick, Ga., the third failed institution in 2011.