Global Consumer Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company, said Wednesday that its shareholders had approved a deal to buy the $45 million-asset 1st Commerce Bank in North Las Vegas.

FirstFed Financial Corp. is looking to join the handful of other strugglers that have managed to woo investors in recent weeks. But as a California company chock full of option adjustable-rate mortgages, FirstFed could be the biggest test yet for the rebounding capital markets.

In the second deal using a new system for failed-bank asset sales, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Tuesday that four investors will receive FDIC financing to acquire a piece of Corus Bank.

As the former chief executive of Fair Isaac Corp., Larry E. Rosenberger knows a thing or two about credit risk. Now he's taking one, by extending a $500,000 loan to the cash-strapped Tamalpais Bancorp.

Beijing-based China Minsheng Banking Corp. plans to seek U.S. regulatory approval to increase its stake in San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings Inc., Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing two unnamed people briefed on the matter.

Frontier Financial Corp. of Everett, Wash., is scrambling for capital again, after announcing Monday that its lifesaving deal with a blank-check company had fallen apart.

Frontier Financial and SP Acquisition Holdings terminated their July merger deal after failing to obtain regulatory approvals in time to complete the deal by a Saturday deadline.

Addison Avenue FCU has launched an "Intervention Center" as part of its new campaign that forcefully tells consumers CUs are a better option than banks, as evidenced by the motto "Friends Don't Let Friends Use Big Banks."

State and federal regulators shut three banks late Friday — $538 million-asset Warren Bank in Michigan, $56.3 million-asset Jennings State Bank of Spring Grove, Minnesota and $39.5 million-asset Southern Colorado National Bank in Pueblo — bringing this year's failure total to 98.

For the industry's entrepreneurs, buying a small depository, rather than building one from scratch, has gone from the exception to the rule.

State and federal regulators shut three banks late Friday — $538 million-asset Warren Bank in Michigan, $56.3 million-asset Jennings State Bank of Spring Grove, Minnesota and $39.5 million-asset Southern Colorado National Bank in Pueblo — bringing this year's failure total to 98.

As the new president and chief executive of Flagstar Bancorp Inc., Joseph P. Campanelli has a lot of work to do, but he has been in challenging situations before.

MIDWEST

But First Busey raised $122 million last week, becoming the latest example of a struggling company to find investors in the thawing capital markets.

To the Editor:
The article from Sept. 25 on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s agreement with First Financial Bank to take over the Irwin banks ["Acquirer Impresses with Terms Won in Failure Buy"] fails to capture how the process works.

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When Larry Brown, the chief executive at Bank of Little Rock, first heard the name Kasasa, he thought the conversation had turned from rewards checking to what's for dinner.

The Federal Reserve Board has ordered Bankers' Bancorp Inc. in Springfield, Ill., and its subsidiary Independent Bankers' Bank, to improve accounting practices.