The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will give its next update on the health of the banking industry on May 24.

On the whole, large banks appear to have primed their books for a rebound in rates: levels of short-term assets relative to short-term liabilities are now higher than they have been during roughly the past decade. The postures of individual institutions vary widely, however.

Grand Bankshares in West Palm Beach, Fla., has been ordered by the Federal Reserve Board to serve as a source of strength for its struggling bank subsidiary.

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Elizabeth Duke outlined a number of factors — such as the mortgage servicer settlement, the huge number of underwater borrowers and the failure to reform the GSEs — that are working to limit mortgage credit to healthy borrowers.

Bradley S. Everly, the chief financial officer at the ailing Orrstown Financial Services in Shippensburg, Pa., has resigned after 14 years on the job.

CEOs at smaller banks have mixed views about the shocking $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase. Some view it as justification for regulating small banks differently than bigger institutions, while others viewed the fallout as yet another assault on their industry.

Naugatuck Valley Financial in Connecticut swung to a loss in the quarter that ended March 31 following its discovery that it had been underpaying interest on certain customers’ certificate-of-deposit accounts.

IMGCAP(1)]

Institutional Shareholder Service backs the Renton, Wash., company's director nominees. Dissident shareholder Joseph Stilwell is trying to get his general counsel added to the board.

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.

Sometimes there are more ways to pay for a bank than in cash or stock. Just ask Citizens South, which extracted job protections and a charitable donation for its local community before agreeing to sell to Park Sterling.

A big trading loss at Chase has some community bank CEOs discussing a second tier of regulation for small banks. Other CEOs believe the snafu is yet another black eye for the banking industry. And some point out that the loss is fairly insignificant to the New York company.

Both sides of a bank deal need to meet with their regulators well ahead of announcing it in today's complicated world.

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.

Park Sterling Corporation in Charlotte, N.C., announced Monday that it is buying Citizens South Bank in Gastonia, N.C., in a deal that would instantly double its size.

Government deference to big banks is a source of disgust and outrage that could ultimately lead to real reform and help all banks, says the former Tarp special inspector general.

Congress, unlike the Treasury, was one Washington institution that took a serious interest in preventing taxpayers from getting defrauded, says the former Tarp special inspector general.

The "vice-like grip" giant banks have on both parties makes their forced breakup unlikely. But momentum is rising for a move toward Glass-Steagall, says the former Tarp special inspector general.

The size of the biggest banks has made them a greater systemic risk than ever that's been compounded by the "fantasy" that living wills provide safety, says the former Tarp special inspector general.

When pressed on the AIG bailouts, the administration when on the attack and tried to trivialize a serious area of public concern, says the former Tarp special inspector general.