Aided by strong loan and deposit growth, Signature Bank in New York reported a record-setting $36.6 million profit in the second quarter, up 64.4% from the same period in 2010.

A large securities gain boosted second quarter earnings at Heartland Financial USA Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa, by 137% from a year earlier, to $8.9 million.

F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., reported that its second quarter earnings rose nearly 25% from a year earlier, to $22.4 million, up nearly 25%, due largely to lower credit costs.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, the middleman in millions of foreclosure filings.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. are in rare company as small banks with top shares in major cities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency definitely got the better end of its merger with the Office of Thrift Supervision. But among the downsides: The OCC is now on the legal hook for closing a thrift it never regulated.

Chemical Financial Corp. in Midland, Mich., reported Monday that its second quarter earnings rose 150% from a year earlier, to $11 million, as credit costs fell and net interest income increased.

These five banks are making deals work in the down economy, but they are tough acts to follow.

Metro Bancorp Inc. in Harrisburg, Pa., reported Monday that second quarter earnings jumped 453% from a year earlier, to $2 million, due to a sizable drop in its loan-loss provision.

Bank of Hawaii Corp. in Honolulu reported that its earnings fell nearly 25% from a year earlier, to $35.1 million, as it paid out $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving overdraft fees on debit cards.

S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., reported that its second-quarter earnings rose 58.5% from a year earlier, to $14.9 million, due largely to improved asset quality and the resolution of several nonperforming loans.

WASHINGTON — Two failed banks in Florida went to one acquirer Friday, and regulators also shut a $1 billion-asset bank in Colorado, as the year's failure total reached 58.

USAmeriBancorp Inc. in Clearwater, Fla., is planning to acquire the remaining stake in an Alabama bank that it does not already own.

Antsy investors are urging some community banks that have survived the recession but just can't get much forward momentum to create value or find a partner that can.

Bank of the Carolinas Corp. fell into a deeper hole in the second quarter, posting a net loss of $9.9 million compared, to a loss of $415,000 a year earlier.

Bank Mutual Corp. in Milwaukee reported a loss of $51.4 million for the second quarter, largely stemming from a $52.6 million goodwill impairment charge.

First Niagara Financial Group and M&T Bank are playing it cool on whether they plan to bid for HSBC's branches in upstate New York — but they aren't discouraging speculation, either.

Southside Bancshares Inc. of Tyler, Texas, said that its second-quarter profits rose 18% from same period a year earlier, to $11.5 million, and that earnings per share increased 19.6%, to 67 cents.

With loan demand still weak in many areas of the country, more and more bankers are starting to believe that their banks will need to merge with other institutions to achieve meaningful growth.

Analysts at Sandler O'Neill & Partners have raised earnings estimates for City National Corp. after the Los Angeles company reported strong second-quarter earnings growth that was aided by improved asset quality and "promising" gains in its commercial-and-industrial loan portfolio.