A pair of community banks have reduced the Treasury Department's ownership stake in their companies.

Unitus Community Credit Union in Portland, Ore., pledged Tuesday to keep offering free checking and free online services such as bill pay even as many banking companies are starting to charge fees for the services.

Integra Bank Corp. in Evansville, Ind., on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $42.8 million, half its loss in the year-earlier period.

S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., said Wednesday that it was revising its fourth-quarter and full-year 2010 results to reflect a higher loan-loss provision.

TIB Financial Corp. in Naples, Fla., said late Tuesday that it returned to profitability after its new owner, North American Financial Holdings, restructured its balance sheet.

The number of banks and thrifts deferring dividends on preferred stock from the Troubled Asset Relief Program rose last month, according to a report.

The Federal Reserve granted bank holding company status Tuesday to a Japanese company that has agreed to acquire a Japanese-owned bank in New Jersey.

An eleventh-hour amendment to Dodd-Frank that repealed Reg Q could punish community banks that serve as the lifeblood for small businesses across the country.

Various e-communications solutions offer banks an easy method for identifying small-business customers within their retail customer accounts and marketing to them.

Tri-Valley Bank in San Ramon, Calif., said late Monday that it had terminated a planned $10 million private placement and had named a new chairman.

The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced written agreements with two banks.

FNB United Corp. in Asheboro, N.C., was out of equity at the end of 2010, prompting it to warn about its future. The $1.9 billion-asset company said Monday in its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.

Sun Bancorp Inc. in Vineland, N.J., plans to sell up to $75 million of common stock. The $3.4 billion-asset company, which received a $100 million capital infusion last summer, said it could use the proceeds from the offering to shore up capital at its bank, support losses from potential loan sales, repay debt or make acquisitions.

Stock price to book ratios have gained on deal valuations, perhaps indicating the broader availability of potent acquisitions currency.

On Friday, the $1.8 billion-asset company in Marietta, Ohio, said it had hired Charles W. Sulerzyski, a former regional president for KeyCorp's Great Lakes region, to serve as president and chief executive, effective April 4.

North American Financial Holdings Inc. has informed its equity investors that it is thinking about consolidating all its recent bank purchases.

The largest shareholder of Magyar Bancorp Inc. of New Brunswick, N.J., is demanding that its chairman resign, pointing to "significant losses."

While much of the industry is clinging to fee income, MidSouth Bank is working with customers to reduce it as part of what the Louisiana bank calls an ombudsman program.

In a March 8 Viewpoint ["Credit Unions Face Tough Test"], Peter Duffy suggests that despite overwhelming evidence from rate-tracking services such as Datatrac, banks actually pay higher interest rates to depositors than credit unions do, and the reason is the higher deposit insurance costs credit unions incur. This analysis is quite misleading.

TCF Financial Corp.'s William Cooper is rethinking his long-held belief that economies of scale do not matter in banking.