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.

Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. of Irvine, Calif., blamed a drop in fourth-quarter earnings on higher salary expenses and ongoing costs to defend itself in a lawsuit over trade secrets.

Gerald R. "Jerry" Francis' latest turnaround job has been his fastest yet.

PanAmerican Bank of Miami has received regulatory approval to change its name to Sun American Bank, and it began trading under the new ticker symbol SBK on Monday.

First State Bancorp in Albuquerque reported Monday that it had net income of $6.1 million in the fourth quarter, up 45% from the year-earlier period, and a record $21.4 million in earnings for the year, up 41%.

BankUnited Financial Corp. in Coral Gables, Fla., which has been opening roughly one branch a month since mid-2004, is raising $150 million to keep building in deposit-rich Florida.

First Community Bancorp in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., said Friday that it earned $15.3 million in the fourth quarter, up 46.3% from the year-earlier period.

Prosperity Bancshares of Houston reported a 35% increase in fourth-quarter income, but SNB Bancshares Inc., the Sugar Land, Tex., company it is buying for $243 million, was not as successful.

FirstMerit Corp. of Akron said Thursday that it earned $31.2 million in the fourth quarter, 9.9% more than a year earlier.

WASHINGTON - It has been a challenging few months for Hector V. Barreto, but the administrator of the Small Business Administration insists that the heat is not getting to him.

The $6.5 billion-asset Chittenden Corp. in Burlington, Vt., reported fourth-quarter earnings of $21.8 million, 9% more than in the 2004 quarter.