Columbia Banking System Inc. of Tacoma said it plans to sell $208.8 million of common shares to bolster its already-fat capital ratios.

After a year of growth through failed-bank acquisitions, First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati posted first-quarter earnings of $11.6 million, more than double what it earned a year earlier.

First Community Bancshares Inc. in Bluefield, Va., has turned the corner in dealing with its securities portfolio and is now setting its sights on acquisitions in the Southeast.

The Federal Reserve announced enforcement actions Thursday against Coast Bancorp of San Luis Obispo, Calif., that the Fed said are intended to help maintain financial soundness at the company.

FNB Bank Inc. of Mayfield, Ky., has agreed to buy three Kentucky bank branches and a pool of loans from Integra Bank of Evansville, Ind.

There's a new wrinkle in the latest round of recapitalizations: The only way for the banks involved to win is for taxpayers to lose.

A month or two before Fannie Mae's new quality-control requirements take effect, lenders are grumbling that the changes will delay closings and reduce originations without much improving loan quality.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve announced enforcement actions Thursday against Coast Bancorp, a move to help maintain financial soundness at the company, according to the Fed order.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the lead Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is asking the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to explain why it waited so long to close a bank owned by the family of a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Flagstar Bancorp Inc. of Troy, Mich., reported Wednesday that its first-quarter loss widened to $82 million from $67.4 million a year earlier. Yet the $14.4 billion-asset company still managed to raise $576.7 million of fresh capital, which analysts said will enable it to ride out persistent credit-quality issues.

After slamming on the brakes in 2006, Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., is revving its growth engine once more. The $12.8 billion-asset company on Friday purchased two of the seven banks that failed in the Chicago area the same day.

The struggling First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque narrowed its first-quarter loss by 36% from a year earlier, to $15.7 million, as it cut its credit costs by half.

Six weeks after scrapping a long-delayed deal, Republic First Bancorp Inc. in Philadelphia is looking to raise more capital.

The sudden resignation of Philip Sherringham as the chief executive of People's United Financial Inc. in Bridgeport, Conn., on Monday has left observers wondering what went wrong at a company where so much is going right.

The Chicago company said Monday that its loans declined slightly in the first quarter as it struggled to find new qualified borrowers and focused its attention on resolving the troubled loan portfolio that has dogged it in the past two years.

The National Credit Union Administration took St. Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union under conservatorship on Friday because of the $250 million-asset institution's declining financial condition.

TierOne Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., announced late Sunday that its independent auditors had resigned and had warned TierOne that some of its past financial statements are inaccurate.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., returned to profitability in the first quarter after a rough fourth quarter.

First Niagara Financial Corp. said Monday that its first-quarter earnings rose 51.6%, to $32.6 million.