One Main Street LLC, an investment fund in New York City, has announced an agreement to buy the tiny Liberty Bank Inc. in Salt Lake City with a plan to expand it into a regional bank.

Call me nuts, but in an increasingly competitive and commoditized industry, "friend" seems like a strategically good place to be. What will you and your team do to make friends (and future customers) this week?

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc. has won another round in its battle for recapitalization, as a result of an unusual move by the Treasury Department.

The longtime chairman of Brookline Bancorp in Massachusetts resigned late last month after his board voted to reject a buyout offer, but he did not leave quietly.

Valley Commerce Bancorp of Visalia, Calif., said it lost $2.1 million in the fourth quarter, compared with earnings of $417,000 a year earlier.

Camco Financial Corp. of Cambridge, Ohio, said it narrowed its fourth-quarter loss by $4 million from a year earlier, to $11.8 million.

While the Obama administration's efforts to boost small-business lending languish on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are pressing an alternative.

Iberiabank in Lafayette, La., is reloading with heavier artillery. The $9.7 billion-asset company announced plans Tuesday to raise another $300 million, plus a 15% option for underwriters.

California United Bank in Encino on Monday announced a 63% decline in profits for 2009 compared with 2008.

PHH Corp., best known for originating mortgages behind the scenes for household names like Charles Schwab Corp. and Merrill Lynch, plans to expand other home lending channels as industrywide volume tanks.

Mercantile Bank Corp. in Grand Rapids has revised its fourth-quarter results to reflect a 65% increase in its provision for loan losses.

On the eve of a hearing on credit and small-business lending, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said Monday that regulators and banks must err on the side of protecting safety and soundness over encouraging credit availability.

Reversing a trend of the past two years, more mutual thrift companies are announcing plans to sell shares and convert to stock companies.

State regulators shut two banks on Friday, bringing the year's total failures to 22. The failures are expected to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $103.1 million.

Morphis Inc., a Dallas payments-management software provider, has introduced a low-cost, online cash-forecasting tool that community banks and credit unions can use to manage their automated teller machines.

Glen Burnie Bancorp of Maryland said its 2009 net income rose 212% to $1.26 million.

Sterling Banks Inc. in Mount Laurel, N.J., has given shareholders more information about a restatement for the second and third quarters of 2009.

BancorpSouth Inc. in Tupelo, Miss., surprised investors late last week by announcing it would delay filing its annual report because auditors found asset-quality issues that will likely require an earnings restatement.

A Lloyd's of London syndicate is the second insurer trying to escape liability in the massive mortgage fraud for which more than 25 credit unions are seeking recompense of up to $125 million.

EverBank in Jacksonville, Fla., is negotiating to buy a $10 billion package of residential servicing rights from Flagstar Bancorp, according to investment banking sources familiar with the matter.