Shares of StellarOne Financial Corp. fell sharply Tuesday after the Charlottesville, Va., company said chargeoffs and nonperforming assets roughly doubled in the third quarter from three months earlier.

Citing the weak market for financial stocks, Bank of Granite Corp. in Granite Falls, N.C., said Tuesday that it is abandoning a 5-for-4 stock split that had been scheduled for later this month.

Banking companies that do not need capital are having the easiest time raising it, and in some instances they are raking in far more than they initially requested.

A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court's ruling awarding SunTrust Banks Inc. $30.6 million of damages from the U.S. government in a case dating to the height of the savings and loan crisis.

United Community Banks Inc. in Blairsville, Ga., said Monday that it expects to report a third-quarter loss of about $40 million, or 84 cents a share, as it continues to work through problem loans to home builders.

Another LaSalle Bank Corp. executive has landed at Taylor Capital Corp.

Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. in Westerly, R.I., is raising $50 million of capital to expand its commercial and wealth management businesses.

Adams National Bank in Washington has an agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of Currency to boost its capital, assess its senior management team, and improve the monitoring of its loans.

New numbers from the Small Business Administration give hard evidence about the toll of the credit crunch and show it was especially harsh the past two months.

To keep its capital strong after losses from its investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Cascade Financial Corp of Everett, Wash., said Thursday that it would cut its third-quarter dividend by half, to 4.5 cents a share.

Three-quarters of the community bankers responding to a survey released Thursday by Pacific Coast Bankers' Bancshares said they would vote to approve the bailout bill if they were in Congress.

Carver Bancorp Inc. in New York said Thursday that it has named Paul Hagan interim chief financial officer.

Banks are ramping up public relations efforts to calm consumers panicked by the credit crisis — and to distinguish themselves from the string of big-name institutions that have gone out of business.

Clearing a hurdle in its unusual deal to buy a converting thrift, Emclaire Financial Corp. in Emlenton, Pa., has raised $3.46 million in a stock offering.

A nonbanker buddy of mine was ribbing me just a bit a couple of weeks ago. He told me, "Man, I'd hate to be a guy trying to motivate bankers to 'shake hands and kiss babies' these days. You guys have to be clinically depressed about now, huh?"

A plan to streamline Irwin Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ind., by selling off $1 billion of home equity loans has failed.

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. has raised the $65 million in capital it needed by a Tuesday deadline, but some bank trade groups are concerned that nearly all of the money came from Farm Credit institutions.

Gateway Financial Holdings Inc. in Virginia Beach said it raised $37.55 million of capital this week, fulfilling a requirement of its deal to sell itself to Hampton Roads Bankshares Inc. of Norfolk, Va.

Without a tax benefit for losses on its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock, the $980 million-asset Cooperative Bankshares Inc. in Wilmington, N.C., expects to slip below the well-capitalized level.

High employee turnover at a community bank can be a serious financial drain. Knowing exactly who you are hiring in the first place stops the bleeding before it starts.