Given how hard it is to win regulatory approval for a new bank these days, a tactic being used in Texas could gain wider use.

Charles Brown, the chairman and chief executive of Insignia Bank in Sarasota, Fla., got a call last week from a well-known area business whose regional bank had begun charging it higher loan rates.

Shares of NewBridge Bancorp in Greensboro, N.C., edged up Friday, even though the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $8.1 million.

Federal Trust Corp. in Sanford, Fla., could fail if it cannot close its sale to Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. by Friday, according to an order from the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Nexity Financial Corp. in Birmingham, Ala., is looking for an investor or buyer after a spike in nonperforming assets fueled a third straight quarterly loss.

Community banks in need of liquidity will soon have a cheaper way to sell debt guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Housing troubles in Colorado and Arizona caused CoBiz Financial Inc. to swing to an $8.6 million loss in the fourth quarter, from a $5.5 million profit a year earlier.

I read an article this week that I believe could be instructive to all of us in an expense-cutting cycle. This particular piece was not about banks. It discussed the negative effects beginning to be felt in restaurants from the cutbacks of busboys.

Bank of Florida Corp. expects to report its fourth-quarter loss grew about tenfold from a year earlier, to $10 million, or 78 cents a share, due to deteriorating credit quality that prompted it to pad its reserves.

FirstFed Financial Corp.'s $244.8 million fourth-quarter loss shaved its capital so much that observers say it needs a cash infusion to keep regulators at bay.

NEW ENGLAND

There are two new government programs in the queue that aim to revive the frozen secondary market for loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.

Though its credit quality weakened, Wainwright Bank and Trust Co. in Boston said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings improved 5% from a year earlier, to $1.2 million.

The $2.7 billion-asset Home Savings and Loan Co. in Youngstown, Ohio — deemed by regulators a troubled institution in August — has succeeded in boosting capital as required by cease-and-desist orders.

Midwest Banc Holdings Inc., which just a few months ago said it was on the prowl to buy ailing banks, is now concentrating on staying in the black.

Northwest Bancorp Inc. in Warren, Pa., announced a deal to buy a small mutual thrift.

WASHINGTON — The massive stimulus package moving through Congress aims to unclog the market for Small Business Administration loans by providing financing to the broker-dealers that buy and securitize them.

A single line in the stimulus package the House passed last week could put the Federal Reserve Board on the road to becoming a systemic risk regulator.

The story of Flagstar Bancorp Inc. just keeps getting curiouser.

Nara Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles said Friday that it swung to a $9.9 million loss in the fourth quarter as it aggressively recognized loan losses.