However well intended, a new Federal Reserve Board program to spur Small Business Administration lending is unlikely to have much impact as it is designed now, industry insiders say.

Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., said Tuesday that it expects to report its fourth-quarter earnings fell well short of its estimates, as a result of a spike in problem loans and losses related to a check fraud scheme.

After months of waiting for their turn, Subchapter S corporations will get their chance to apply for capital infusions from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

FirstFed Financial Corp., a Los Angeles thrift company battered by losses on option adjustable-rate mortgages, is taking the seemingly counterintuitive step of spending its capital to buy back debt — and may be setting an industry trend in the process.

UCBH Holdings Inc. in San Francisco has hired Doreen Woo Ho, a Wells Fargo & Co. executive, to fill the newly created position of president of community banking.

Heartland Financial USA Inc. of Dubuque, Iowa, said it expects to post a loss of $2 million to $3 million for the fourth quarter, as a result of a spike in problem loans in Arizona, Colorado, and Montana.

Anchor BanCorp in Madison, Wis., said it has won approval to participate in the Treasury Department's Capital Purchase Program and is slated to receive $110 million.

Shares of Home BancShares Inc. fell Friday after the Conway, Ark., company said it expects to report a loss of $9.4 million for the fourth quarter, primarily because of the weak Florida housing market.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has put the brakes on approvals for new banks in several states hard hit by the real estate crisis, according to consultants and attorneys who advise investors trying to charter new banks.

Community Trust Bancorp Inc. of Pikeville, Ky., said Friday that it expects to report its fourth-quarter earnings per share fell roughly a third from a year earlier, to a range of 38 to 40 cents.

To bolster its capital, United Community Financial Corp. of Youngstown, Ohio, said Thursday that it plans to sell the trust company of its Butler Wick Corp. to Farmers National Banc Corp. of Canfield.

A number of insurance companies and specialty lenders that aim to become bank or thrift holding companies — most of them so they can qualify for government capital — are still waiting for their holding company applications to be approved.

Mechanics Bank in Richmond, Calif., is testing the Treasury Department's flexibility for banks participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The outlook for Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. in West Chester, Ohio, appears increasingly grim after a second deal to sell itself collapsed.

Heritage Community Bancorp Inc. in Glenwood, Ill., is once again looking for a lifeline after an agreement to receive a cash infusion from First Community Financial Partners of Joliet expired Dec. 31.

NEW ENGLAND

With the secondary market for Small Business Administration loans frozen, Temecula Valley Bancorp Inc., one of the nation's most active SBA lenders, stopped taking applications for those loans Monday.