First Financial Bankshares Inc. in Abilene said Thursday afternoon that its first-quarter earnings increased 14.8% from a year earlier, to $13.16 million.

Southside Bancshares Inc. in Tyler said late Thursday that net income rose 47.4% from a year earlier, to $5.5 million.

Amcore Financial Inc.'s loan losses have been mounting for several quarters, so investors and analysts had been expecting first-quarter earnings to be so-so at best.

First Mariner Bancorp in Baltimore said Wednesday that it lost $3.3 million, or 52 cents a share, in the first quarter as a result of continued chargeoffs in its alternative-A mortgage loan portfolio.

Shares of East West Bancorp Inc. fell sharply Wednesday after the Pasadena, Calif., company reported that its first-quarter profits fell 88% from a year earlier, to $5 million.

William A. Donius, Pulaski Financial Corp.'s chief executive and president, has been the face of the St. Louis thrift company for a decade and the architect of its expansion, but on May 1 he will step away from running its daily operations and, as he put it, get to work on his "bucket list."

NEW ENGLAND

Enterprise Financial Services Corp. of St. Louis said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings rose 13% from a year earlier, to $3.6 million.

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.