Under pressure from its largest shareholder to beef up its capital base, Polonia Bancorp in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., has announced that it is planning to become a 100% stock-owned company.

WASHINGTON — Lending to small businesses in the U.S. declined last year as the economy struggled to recover from recession and access to credit only started to show signs of improvement, regulators said Thursday.

Former top executives at LaSalle Bank are looking to start a bank that would acquire the assets and deposits of failed banks in and around Chicago.

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc., the Miami-based investment bank and brokerage, said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Securities America Inc. from Ameriprise Financial Inc. for at least $150 million to add 1,700 financial advisors.

Jeff Gerrish, a lawyer in Memphis who spends a lot of his time advocating on behalf of community banks to federal regulators, sees a thawing in banker-regulator relations, but says it is one born of fatigue rather than enlightenment.

MidSouth Bancorp Inc. in Lafayette, La., has agreed to buy a branch in Tyler, Texas, from Beacon Federal Bancorp Inc.

Access National Corp. in Reston, Va., said Wednesday that it rejected the Treasury Department's offer of $28 million in capital through the Small Business Lending Fund.

Some bankers are withdrawing the applications for the SBLF program after being held back by certain restrictions. Observers question whether the Treasury will deploy most of the funds in time.

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida if finally current on dividends tied to the Troubled Asset Relief Program after missing nine payments to the Treasury Department.

Secure Vault Payments, which lets consumers spend at online merchants without disclosing their bank account details, is expanding into more financial institutions through a deal with the vendor Jwaala.

Are you pushing back when you think examiners go too far? How's that working? One Ohio banker tried it, and instead of retribution he got relief.

Parkvale Financial Corp. in Monroeville, Pa., said late Tuesday that it plans to restate financial information for two fiscal years to correct an error tied to deposit insurance.

Investors Bancorp doesn't plan to stop with its deal for Brooklyn Federal. The Short Hills, N.J., mutual thrift would like to do "one or two more" before converting to an all-stock company.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. is getting closer to exiting Colorado with an agreement to sell Mountain View Bank of Commerce.

Patriot National Bancorp Inc. in Stamford, Conn., saw its losses widen during the second quarter compared to a year earlier, due largely to expenses associated with a turnaround plan.

Those tech companies provide an allocative service with fewer employees, but they also don't have regulators and don't need retail branches. Perhaps Apple's the better benchmark.

First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has found a way to put some of its capital to work: a big branch deal with Flagstar Bancorp Inc.

FirstMerit has succeeded at getting its online banking users to immediately adopt a new mobile service from the vendor Fiserv, which said 11% of the bank's active online banking users enrolled in the first week.

Deals will stall in the short term as volatility complicates stock-related transactions and creates uncertainty. But a low-rate environment will crimp growth and ultimately drive consolidation.

Profits at State Bank Financial in Atlanta said its second-quarter profit fell 10% from the same period last year as gains in interest income were offset by higher expenses and an increase in its loan-loss provision.