WASHINGTON — In a matter of hours Friday, four large insurance companies announced marriages with troubled thrift companies, and the Office of Thrift Supervision played the role of matchmaker, according to industry sources.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department announced Monday that privately held banks and thrifts are now eligible for direct capital injections from the government.

The government agency that guarantees loans to farmers is tightening the guidelines on the interest rates that may be charged, because the current policy is so vague that it has exposed lenders to lawsuits.

Graystone Financial Corp. in Harrisburg has been one of Pennsylvania's fastest-growing banking companies since it was founded three years ago.

The chairman of Vineyard Bancorp has assembled a group of investors to buy the Corona, Calif., company, but questions remain whether he can raise enough capital to restore the badly hobbled company to health.

MIDWEST

Dragged down by a weak final quarter, Magyar Bancorp in New Brunswick, N.J., posted a $2.9 million loss for its fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The Texas Finance Commission said Wednesday that Charles G. Cooper will become the state's banking commissioner Dec. 1.

As Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston was rolling up small Texas banks in recent years, it often bumped up against Franklin Bank Corp., another acquisitive company in its hometown that on several occasions frustrated Prosperity by outbidding it.

Signature Bank in New York said Wednesday that it has opened its first branch on Staten Island and hired two teams of bankers from SI Bank and Trust to serve customers there.

Umpqua Holdings Corp. of Portland, Ore., has launched a low-interest financing program for businesses and homeowners who want to install solar energy systems or make other energy-saving improvements.

Shares of Integra Bank Corp. plunged to an all-time low Tuesday after the Evansville, Ind., company said it had a larger third-quarter loss than it had previously reported.

Credit unions are using the credit crisis as ammunition for persuading Congress to let them make more loans to small businesses.

With problem loans piling up, Saehan Bancorp Inc. in Los Angeles said it lost $765,000 in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $1.8 million a year earlier.

PlainsCapital Corp. said Tuesday that it intends to acquire First Southwest Holdings Inc., a financial advisory firm based in its hometown of Dallas.

Nowhere is the angst over the federal government's Capital Purchase Program more dramatic than in South Carolina, whose governor has accused the state's largest banking company of trying to con Uncle Sam.

Irwin Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ind., said its third-quarter loss tripled from a year earlier, to $54 million, or $1.85 a share.

Independent Bank Corp. in Rockland, Mass., which historically has been methodical in its approach to acquisitions, is looking more and more like a dealmaker.

Hiawatha Bancshares Inc. of Hager City, Wis., has agreed to sell itself to a two-year-old investment group, Lake Shore Wisconsin Corp. of Sheboygan.