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.

Nasdaq is giving a number of struggling companies a little more breathing room, making it easier for stocks to stay on the exchange even after falling short of listing requirements.

Heritage Financial Group Inc. in Albany, Ga., said Tuesday that it has finished its second-step conversion and is now a stock holding company.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., an active buyer of failed competitors, on Tuesday appointed a president for its bank.

Heartland Financial USA Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa, has picked up a team of mortgage bankers that had worked at a failed Arizona thrift.

Lawyers for the National Credit Union Administration met Tuesday to discuss whether a federal pay freeze proposed by President Obama would apply to raises eyed for agency employees.

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The $1.9 billion-asset company said in a Nov. 24 regulatory filing that David Wesel is resigning his post at Peoples Bank, effective Dec. 10.

Oriental Financial Group Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has joined a handful of banking companies by raising its quarterly dividend.

Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. has named an insider as the president and chief executive of the unit Borel Private Bank and Trust Co.