Sterling Savings Bank in Spokane, Wash., is dropping the "Savings" from its name to reflect its transition from a traditional thrift to commercial-oriented bank.

Improved credit quality and lower expenses helped offset declines in fees at Eastern Virginia Bankshares as the Tappahannock company returned to the black in 2011.

A small Minnesota bank is in hot water with its regulators after suffering steep losses on loans to some high-profile business executives.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has filled its vacant chief financial officer position by hiring from a former competitor.

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Union First Market Bankshares Corp. in Richmond, Va., has agreed to repurchase more than 335,000 shares of its common stock that a director used to secure a loan.

Northway Financial Corp. in North Conway, N.H., said Monday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 95% from the same period in 2010, to $67,000, after it set aside more money for potential losses and absorbed costs related to prepayment of its Federal Home Loan Bank advances.

DCB Financial Corp. in Lewis Center, Ohio, is planning to raise fresh capital by issuing more stock to existing and prospective shareholders.

F&M Bank, of Iowa, would get 2 branches in Galeburg, Ill., with $66 million of deposits.

Mid-Atlantic Corporate FCU said this afternoon it has completed the merger of Virginia Corporate FCU, the latest corporate combination creating a corporate credit union with $4.1 billion in assets serving more than 800 credit unions.

Toney Weagley, the chief executive of Center Bancorp, unveiled an acquisition (Saddle River Valley Bank) in New Jersey last week. In an interview, he discusses growth in the northern part of the state and his ongoing search for more bank deals.

State Bank Financial Corp.'s shares slid Monday after the Atlanta company reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit.

Sovereign Bank in Dallas is converting its loan production office in Houston into a regional headquarters and is eyeing further expansion in Texas' largest city.

Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. in Pennsylvania is acquiring a Philadelphia-area wealth management firm from Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. and the firm's management group.

Cape Bancorp Inc. in Cape May Court House, N.J., swung to a $1.6 million loss in the fourth quarter after taking $1 million writedown on foreclosed properties and an additional $1.1 million writedown on its investment in pooled trust-preferred securities that have lost much of their value.

Regulators, particularly the OCC, are hitting banks with consent orders for erroneous accounting for troubled-debt restructurings. The issue, based on new FASB standards, is becoming a catalyst for higher loan-loss provisions and lower profit.

Solid loan and deposit growth powered Bancorp of New Jersey Inc. to its most profitable quarter in its six-year history, the company said Friday.

The former president and chief executive at the failed Orion Bank in Naples, Fla., faces up to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to examiners about the bank’s health.

Howard Milstein and other members of the family that owns Emigrant have hired Barclays Capital to explore selling its 33 branches or online banking operation. Emigrant still has to repay its federal aid and has been weighed down by problem loans.

Driven by strong growth in both interest and fee income, Territorial Bancorp Inc. in Honolulu reported a 6% increase in its fourth-quarter earnings, to $3.4 million.