Few areas of the country have been as hard hit by the real estate downturn as Southern California's Inland Empire, and, in the last few months, some banks there that were active lenders to residential developers have seen their loan losses mount and their market values plummet.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., laid off 115 employees as part of its effort to cut costs and improve its efficiency ratio.

Whitney Holding Corp. in New Orleans said its first-quarter earnings decreased 19% from a year earlier, to $29.9 million, largely as a result of an increase in its loan-loss provision.

A contracting net interest margin and a higher provision for loan losses led to a down first quarter for Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash.

Sterling Bancshares Inc. in Houston reported Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings fell about 3% from a year earlier, to $11.6 million.

UMB Financial Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings jumped 82% from a year earlier, to a record $32.4 million.

Tax refund lending can be a high-risk business, but as Republic Bancorp Inc. in Louisville showed in the first quarter, it can also be a high-reward one.

With the volume of loans backed by the Small Business Administration slipping, community bankers are pressuring the agency to lower its fees and reduce the paperwork.

Wintrust Financial Corp. in Lake Forest, Ill., said Monday that first-quarter earnings fell 34% from a year earlier, to $9.7 million.

Higher net interest income helped boost S&T Bancorp Inc.'s first-quarter profit 12% from a year earlier, to $14.9 million.

West Coast Bancorp in Lake Oswego, Ore., said Monday that first-quarter earnings fell 75% from a year earlier, to $2 million, as losses in its residential construction loan portfolio continued to mount.

Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, said Monday that it earned $23 million in the first quarter, up 9.1% from the year earlier.

Buoyed by growth in its tax refund anticipation loan business, Republic Bancorp Inc. of Louisville said Friday that its first-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year earlier, to $19.8 million, or 96 cents a share.

BancFirst Corp. in Oklahoma City said Friday that its first-quarter earnings climbed 4.5% from a year earlier, to $11.6 million.

Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. in Denver said Friday that its first-quarter earnings fell nearly 41% from the year earlier, to $3.2 million.

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. in Houston said Friday that its first-quarter earnings rose 13.4% from a year earlier, to $23 million, or 52 cents a share, meeting the average of analysts’ estimates.

A term from the days of the savings and loan crisis is creeping back into the industry lexicon — performing nonperforming loans.

Recently the Credit Union National Association came out loudly against the Treasury Department's plan to reform regulation of the financial industry, saying it is bad for consumers.

First Community Bancorp Inc. said Thursday that its declining market value had forced it to write down a substantial portion of the goodwill it has accumulated through acquisitions.