Late last year, several ailing banks landed new equity and several hit the ground running in 2011. Still, analysts caution that some recaps could hit the wall in 2012.

A panel of Wall Street banking experts met recently to discuss how community banks can best navigate through an uncertain year ahead.

Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., said that it will close 21 branches across three states by mid-2012.

A small South Florida bank is now considered to be undercapitalized after it restated year-to-date results to show a larger loss than first reported.

The Bailey Building and Loan Association was one of the worst run banks in America. It would have topped the FDIC's problem bank list, if such a list had existed in 1946. In fact it almost certainly would have failed every financial test of today's regulators. The institution was poorly capitalized, its assets were concentrated in a single asset class, and it was a subprime mortgage lender. Of course, it was also a figment of Frank Capra's imagination.

BankUnited Inc. in Miami Lakes, Fla., opened three new branches on both Florida coasts Monday and now has opened a dozen branches in its home state since Nov. 7.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The National Credit Union Administration announced this morning it liquidated Birmingham Financial FCU, a $1.3 million community development credit union it has run under conservatorship since October and assigned the remnants of the year's 15th credit union failure to $113 million eCO Credit Union of Birmingham.

CFS Bancorp's chief executive and chairman, Thomas F. Prisby, will retire after almost 30 years with the company, and his responsibilities are being split between two replacements.

Analysts believe that private equity has become more skittish about quick returns from banking.

Aiming to boost its sagging stock price, Hanmi Financial Corp. has completed a one-for-eight reverse stock split that will reduce its number of shares outstanding by 87%, to 31.5 million.

WASHINGTON — Bank regulators announced Monday higher thresholds for reporting requirements under the Community Reinvestment Act, after adjusting for inflation.

In what is probably the last night for bank collapses in 2011, regulators closed banks in Florida and Arizona, bringing the year's failure tally to 92.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday approved the sale of EuroBank in Coral Gables, Fla., to a pair of Brazilian buyers.

West Coast Bancorp Inc. in Lake Oswego, Ore., has added a director to its board with ties to a investment firm that participated in the company's 2009 private placement.

About a third of the institutions with the 25 highest ratios of foreclosed properties to tangible equity at Sept. 30 have since failed. Simultaneous craters in capital and jumps in repossessed real estate were typical, as were high levels of soured construction and development loans.

Consolidation in the market has prompted Bridge to seek capital fast to fight back, the CEO says.

Oil extraction in western North Dakota has created a big economic spike in the region, but the area's community banks are also struggling to keep up with the growth.

Rather than just moving their money, protesters in San Francisco are seeking to build a credit union of their own.

Hudson City Bancorp Inc. said Friday that it has paid down $4.3 billion of high-cost debt in a move the company says will wipe out fourth-quarter profits but boost its net interest margin going forward.

Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., has shuffled its management ranks and created several new divisions as it aims to regain its footing after suffering steep losses on real estate loans.