New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and senator-elect Richard Blumenthal, the state's attorney general, will hold a press conference this afternoon to denounce the deal.

Wintrust Financial said it plans to sell at least 3.2 million shares of common stock and 4 million tangible equity units, news that sent the regional bank's shares lower.

Unless Congress acts before Jan. 1, more than 4,200 farmers who have used Farm Service Agency loans for more than 15 years will be unable to get loans with federal guarantees. This is significant since farmers often take out operating loans each year to fund purchases of fertilizer and other supplies.

Community Shores Bank Corp. in Muskegon, Mich., said Monday that it is voluntarily delisting from the Nasdaq. Community Shores said in a press release that it expected to file the delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 16, when it also will cease trading its common stock on the Nasdaq.

Center Bancorp Inc. in Union, N.J., said late Friday that two directors had resigned and that it planned to appoint an investment manager to the board.

First BanCorp on Monday said it rejected a takeover offer from Doral Financial Corp. last week in favor of a deal with the Treasury Department to bolster its balance sheet by raising capital.

Credit unions are facing the same lending challenges as banking companies, setting a pace to have their first full-year decline in 30 years, according to the latest data from the Credit Union National Association.

Gouverneur Bancorp Inc. in New York said Friday that net income rose 28.8% in fiscal 2010. The $147 million-asset company earned $1.6 million in the year that ended Sept. 30, or 74 cents a share, compared with $1.3 million, or 56 cents a share, in the previous fiscal year. Total assets rose 2.2%, to $147 million.

First BanCorp in San Juan, Puerto Rico, had cut the size of a planned common stock offering after securing a concession from the Treasury Department.

The Federal Reserve Board has entered into written agreements with four community banks and their holding companies.

Community banks are poised to revisit in 2011 many of the troubled loans they worked hard to restructure this year.

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People's United Financial Inc. in Bridgeport, Conn., has completed its purchases of LSB Corp. and Smithtown Bancorp Inc.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has decided that four banks started by Capitol Bancorp Ltd. should not bear financial responsibility for the failure of a Florida bank.

The $129.5 million-asset company said in a Wednesday press release that Sandra H. Stephens, who has been the CEO at SouthFirst and its bank for five years, will resign Jan. 2 to "spend more time with her family."

Once-secret documents released by the Federal Reserve Board Wednesday revealed that U.S. Central was a major beneficiary of the Fed's emergency Term Auction Facility, just as the corporate credit union giant was teetering.

The failures of banks in Southern California have left a fragmented market that is fertile ground for growth, says Gregory A. Mitchell, the president and CEO of First PacTrust.

Re: "FHLB System's Rationale Erodes as Advances Dwindle" Nov. 29. This article and the online survey on the relevance of the Federal Home Loan banks did not tell the whole story.

The reality is that, if more institutions had been required to comply with CRA, bad loans probably would not have been made because CRA-reporting institutions are highly regulated.

Hanmi Financial Corp. in Los Angeles has amended an agreement with Woori Finance Holdings Co. Ltd. for the second time as the companies' capitalization plan continues to face regulatory delays.