Absorbing Texas Community would increase Patriot's asset size by nearly half, to $1.67 billion, making it the 10th largest privately held banking company in the state.

Various findings indicate a link between small-business owners with mortgages that are resetting and spiking and the financial distress precipitating the small-bank failures.

The New York blank-check company said Wednesday that it signed a letter of intent to buy the $204 million-asset Service 1st Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Agricultural loans are performing better than other credits, but signs of weakness are all around, and bankers are worried that regulators will overreact.

Corporate credit unions should be limited to providing a defined set of services, according to a joint task force formed by two trade groups for credit unions in the wake of two large failures this year.

At least two community banking companies announced plans Tuesday to raise capital, some of which may be used to repay government capital.

UCBH Holdings Inc.'s troubles have deepened, as the San Francisco company ousted its chief executive of 18 years and another top manager amid allegations of fraud. The $13.8 billion-asset UCBH, which caters to Chinese immigrants, said an investigation by its board found that "certain bank officers" had tried to disguise credit problems and misled the company's finance department and outside auditors.

UCBH Holdings Inc. has entered into deals with state and federal regulators to "strengthen and stabilize" the California-based bank as its top two executives resigned.

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut five banks in Iowa, Missouri, Arizona and Illinois late Friday, raising the number of failures this year to 89.

For the first time in the nearly 20 years that enforcement actions have been made public, the FDIC released a notice of charges against the banks that refused to consent to the proposed orders.

TierOne Corp. in Lincoln, Neb., announced Friday that it plans to shrink its assets by a quarter through a branch sale to Great Western Bank, the Sioux Falls, S.D., unit of National Australia Bank.

More credit unions are trying to court younger members by offering innovative products, such as contactless debit cards and mobile banking services, according to industry insiders.

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Jay Kislak, chairman of the real estate investment company J.I. Kislak Inc., has applied to receive a shelf charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Take a minute this week to make sure your branch managers remember that, in our increasingly demanding branch environments, coaching shouldn't be a spectator sport.

Regulators closed the $452 million-asset Bradford Bank in Baltimore on Friday. It was a mutual bank owned by the holding companies Bradford Bank MHC and Bradford Mid-Tier Co.

SOUTHEAST

Cascade Bancorp in Bend, Ore., needs to raise about $100 million by one estimate, and the task just took on more urgency.

The NCUA took over the failed Kaiser Lakeside Federal Credit Union in Oakland late Monday and assigned its remnants to the $315 million-asset SafeAmerica Credit Union in nearby Pleasanton.

Federal regulators have given the struggling First Federal Bankshares Inc. in Sioux City, Iowa, until the end of September to raise the capital levels at its Vantus Bank unit.