Independence Federal Savings Bank in Washington announced Tuesday that a cease-and-desist order under which it had been operating since June 2006 has been terminated, though it is still subject to a memorandum of understanding until further notice.

Community banks have long been skittish about financing international trade deals, but Mike Selfridge, a California banker, says now may be a good time for them to get over their fears.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. of Nashville said its first-quarter earnings rose 8.3% from a year earlier, to $6.1 million, though earnings per share declined 23.5%, to 26 cents.

The former chief executive of Vineyard National Bancorp in Corona, Calif., appears to be a step closer to his goal of winning control of its board.

It was in last year's third quarter that investment banks making markets in pooled trust-preferred securities pretty much shut off the spigot after investor demand dried up, leaving small banks with fewer options for raising capital.

First Bank of Delaware said Monday that federal regulators may impose an enforcement action designed to improve "certain of the bank's credit card and lending programs."

Before trust-preferred securities emerged as a popular fund-raising tool about a decade ago, small banking companies often raised capital by borrowing from their correspondent banks.

ShoreBank Pacific wants to make Seattle, the Emerald City, even greener.

Provident Bankshares Corp. of Baltimore, aiming to shore up its capital position, said it would seek to raise $115 million through offerings of equity and subordinated debt.

Farm Credit lenders and the banking industry have vastly different interpretations of a rule change that would give the Farm Credit System more authority to lend to processing firms, such as those that press apples into apple juice or turn corn into ethanol.

I have viewed with some trepidation the various "fixes" to the mortgage foreclosure crisis espoused by different states, the judiciary, and Congress.

Continuing its in-store branching strategy, Citizens Community Bancorp Inc. of Eau Claire, Wis., is buying three branches in Wal-Mart Supercenter stores from American National Bank of Beaver Dam, Wis.

In the six years since H. McCall Wilson became the president and chief executive officer of Bank of Fayette County, his aggressive growth strategy has attracted some critics.

Summit Financial Group Inc.'s $13.9 million deal for the troubled Greater Atlantic Financial Corp. in Reston, Va., is off for now, but perhaps not for good.

Few banking companies are benefiting from investors' "flight to quality" as much as City Holding Co. in Charleston, W.Va.

State Bancorp Inc. of Jericho, N.Y., announced Wednesday that it has agreed to sell its leasing subsidiary to Main Street Bank in Kingwood, Tex.

MIDWEST

When consultant John Pattison was assigned the task of helping Northstar Financial Group Inc. identify Michigan banks to buy, his first call was to Capitol Bancorp Ltd.