Irwin Financial Corp., which desperately needs capital, is proposing that the Treasury Department create a program for companies that are too weak to qualify for a government infusion under existing rules.

Southeast Acquisition Holding Corp. in Coconut Grove, Fla., has kicked off what it hopes will be a buying spree in South Florida.

Banks that want to sell themselves generally have a hard time finding a buyer these days, but not so for CNB Financial Corp. in Worcester, Mass.

A few years ago the banking profession was riding high. People respected banks, and banking was a career that was well regarded.

As large institutions race to repay government capital, the Treasury Department is offering smaller ones another chance to take the money.

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Shares of Cadence Financial Corp. in Starkville, Miss., fell Tuesday after the $2.1 billion-asset bank said that its first-quarter loss would be significantly higher than it previously estimated.

Another banking company has tallied the impact of Silverton Bank's failure on its bottom line.

Though credit quality continued to be an issue at its Kansas and Florida banks, Mercantile Bancorp Inc. of Quincy, Ill., nearly halved its first-quarter loss compared with a year earlier.

Nonperforming assets at City Bank in Lynwood, Wash., have ballooned to 44.3% of its total, but the company said Monday that it is encouraged by its success in securing home sales.

Sterling Bancorp in New York said Monday that its first-quarter earnings fell 43% from a year earlier, to $2.8 million, or 15 cents a share.

Finding the bottom line has become a little trickier with banking companies that received government infusions.

Robert Gandy 4th, a third-generation Texas banker who has worked in the industry since childhood, said he "always wanted to build something on my own, start something from the bottom up."

Regulators have ordered a $14 million-asset mutual thrift in Pittsburgh to raise capital, citing improper automated clearing house transactions that resulted in large losses.

The pace of credit unions converting to mutual savings banks has slowed in recent years, largely because some that wanted to switch charters encountered resistance from their members or their regulator.

CapitalSource Inc. of Chevy Chase, Md., said Thursday that it swung to a $104 million loss in the first quarter, from a $5.2 million profit a year earlier, as credit quality worsened dramatically.

Just a few weeks after announcing plans to sell some of its subsidiary banks, Capitol Bancorp Ltd. has its first suitor.

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