WEST

The acquisitive Zions Bancorp. is trying something different in Oregon: a start-up bank.

First Financial Bancorp of Hamilton, Ohio, said Wednesday that it would take a fourth-quarter charge of 10 cents a share as it sells $200 million of investment securities to restructure its balance sheet.

Century Bancorp Inc. of Medford, Mass., announced Wednesday that it had terminated its management agreement with BlackRock Inc.

Hancock Holding Co., in Gulfport, Miss., said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings increased 21% from the same quarter in 2004, to $19 million, despite the $5.7 million of pretax expenses the company incurred during the quarter as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

State Bancorp Inc.'s share price plummeted more nearly 17% Tuesday, after a Long Island jury found the Jericho, N.Y., company liable for $44 million of damages in a 4-year-old fraud case.

For evidence that hostile bank deals face long odds, look no further than TrustCo Bank Corp NY in upstate New York.

The National Credit Union Administration has outlined nearly two dozen concerns about the disclosure materials drafted by a $1.8 billion-asset Dearborn, Mich., credit union seeking to become a mutual savings bank.

After shopping its ailing auto leasing subsidiary to 30 potential buyers, Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. of Lititz, Pa., has decided to hold on to it for at least one more year.

Southwest Bancorp of Stillwater, Okla., said Monday that its fourth-quarter net income fell 8% from a year earlier, to $4.6 million.

Webster Financial Corp. of Waterbury, Conn., is joining a growing list of banking companies taking steps to hold down costs.

FNB Corp. in Christiansburg, Va., said Friday that it earned a record $4.6 million in the fourth quarter, up nearly 24% from the year-earlier period. Earnings per share rose 23.5%, to 63 cents.

The Nasdaq Stock Market has told Pocahontas Bancorp Inc. in Jonesboro, Ark., that it is in noncompliance with a listing requirement that a majority of its directors be independent.

Dime Community Bancshares Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y., said fourth-quarter net income dropped 12% from a year earlier, to $9 million.

Core deposits continue to shrink at banks in most parts of the country - squeezing margins and dampening earnings - and experts say the trend will get worse before it gets better.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Franklin Financial Services Corp. in Chambersburg, Pa., is buying Fulton Bancshares Corp. in McConnellsburg, Pa., for $23.5 million in cash and stock.

For banks, 2005 may go down as the year of the shrinking margin. The industry struggled against tough competition for loans and deposits, an inverted yield curve, and eight quarter-point increases to the federal funds rate.