Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 44% from the same period in 2003, to $3.7 million. Full-year earnings rose 6.7%, to $14.9 million.

The Bank Holdings, a four-year-old community banking company in Reno, reported its first-ever annual profit Tuesday - $281,000.

In half a century of speaking, teaching, and consulting I have given a lot of advice and made many predictions. Sometimes I was on the money, but much of what I said still embarrasses me when I think of it.

Utah bankers are supporting a proposal to eliminate state corporate income taxes - but on the condition that it would result in more jobs.

Even at a bargain-basement price, Abigail Adams National Bancorp's stock deal for Consolidated Bank and Trust Co. in Richmond, Va., could be viewed as a gamble.

Mackinac Financial Corp. of Manistique, Mich., said Monday that state and federal regulators had terminated the provisions of the cease-and-desist order issued to its North Country Bank and Trust.

Community Bancshares Inc. of Orangeburg, S.C., said Friday that four large loans booked by one loan officer and classified as nonperforming during the fourth quarter helped spoil its results for the quarter and the year.

Home equity loans and lines of credit continue to grow in popularity, and banks have gradually gained an edge in consumer lending by pushing those products.

Two Indiana banking companies that had planned to merge have terminated the deal, because the Federal Reserve Board has to yet review their application.

Over the past several years West Coast Bancorp in Lake Oswego, Ore., has been bulking up in the state's fastest-growing cities by adding more branches and commercial lenders to attract more business customers.

Exchange National Bancshares Inc. of Jefferson City, Mo., said Friday that its 2004 earnings dropped by nearly 10% from a year earlier, to $8.3 million.

Publicly traded community banks and thrifts looking to go private to avoid regulatory headaches could find themselves butting heads with shareholders.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced a joint enforcement order Thursday against Charles Kushner, the owner of the $622 million-asset NorCrown Bank in Livingston, N.J.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., introduced an amendment Thursday at a House Small Business Committee hearing that would have restored the credit subsidy that used to fund loan losses incurred by the Small Business Administration's 7(a) program.

MIDWEST

Franklin Bank Corp. of Houston’s full-year earnings rose a whopping 624% from a year earlier, to $23.3 million.

TIB Financial Corp.’s recent growth in southwest Florida may reflect good planning, but Edward V. Lett, its president and chief executive officer, says luck helped.

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department's community development programs may be on the chopping block as the Bush administration tries to reduce spending by cutting Clinton-era economic development efforts.

Beyond Brown Bags — a Guide to the Bank Lunchroom