The FDIC has terminated its consent order against Clarkston State Bank in Michigan after the bank recapitalized with investments from private citizens and current board members and made improvements in managing its loan portfolio.

Carlyle Group is set to join the growing ranks of publicly traded private equity firms, filing an initial public offering worth up to $100 million, although the amount of the offering is likely to change before the company's stock actually prices.

B of A spokesman Dan Frahm clarified late last week that the decision to stay in warehouse lending depends "to some extent on the interests of a potential buyer for our correspondent business.

A single acquirer picked up the operations of two failed Georgia banks late Friday in a deal costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. nearly $72 million.

Renasant Corp. in Tupelo, Miss., has completed its acquisition of RBC Bank's Birmingham, Ala.-based trust department.

BofI Holding Inc. in San Diego is planning to raise $10 million in a stock sale and intends to use the proceeds to support growth and to boost regulatory capital at its bank subsidiary, Bank of Internet USA.

Large securities portfolios have helped generate relatively weak net interest margins as rates have become anchored at historically low levels.

First Bancorp in Troy, N.C., has received $63.5 million from the Treasury Department's small-business lending program and has used the funds to exit the agency's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

First Niagara Financial is expected to divest roughly a quarter of the 195 branches it's buying from HSBC. Industry observers have identified at least five community banks that may make bids.

In striking its deal for First Louisiana National Bank, MidSouth Bancorp Inc. structured the deal to include a set number of shares, rather than allow the deal to be at the whim of the stock market.

Cullen/Frost Bankers Chief Executive Dick Evans says he's "not interested" in making acquisitions outside of Texas, and derides mounting competitive threats from community bank rivals by comparing them to the "juvenile delinquents down the street."

Banks of all sizes are tackling changes in regulations such as RESPA. Bank of Billings is using loan documentation compliance software to meet the challenge.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced two written agreements and three civil money penalties.

Weighed down by problem loans, Anchor Bancorp in Lacey, Wash., reported a loss of $4.7 million in the quarter that ended June 30, more than quadrupling its loss from the same period a year earlier.

Steven Goldman, a former banking commissioner of New Jersey, has been appointed to the board of North Jersey Community Bancorp in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Cross-selling is a familiar concept for bankers. The chief revenue officer is not. Tower Bancorp Chairman and CEO Andrew Samuel is slated to become the chief risk officer at Susquehanna Bancshares in Litiz, Pa., which is buying Tower, in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

FirstBank in Colorado unveiled an advertising campaign over the summer promising "Mortgages Made Easy," which focuses on the process of obtaining a mortgage, rather than the more common tactic of highlighting rates.

Focusing on signs of improvement, community bankers sounded unusually cheerful; some investors thought unduly so. Bonnie McGeer reports from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' conference.

Nearly half of U.S. banks and thrifts with $2 billion to $10 billion in assets had lower net income in 2010. In the aggregate, mid-tiers earned just $935 million last year. At least it was an improvement from an overall loss of $1.4 billion in 2009.

With trouble spots lacking potential acquirers, M&A activity in most markets is slow.