Congress has punched traditional bankers in the nose, and if we do nothing in the next 50 days, they will continue this abuse with impunity.

The Missouri Division of Finance closed the $282.3 million-asset Truman Bank in St. Louis on Friday. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. entered into an agreement with Simmons First National Bank in Pine Bluff, Ark., to buy the bank's assets and assume its $245.7 million in deposits.

First Bancshares (FBSI) in Mountain Grove, Mo., said that fewer troubled loans helped it turn a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended June 30.

The FDIC is trying to help bankers prep for exams and more clearly understand the results as part of a broader effort at improving relations, Martin Gruenberg, the agency's acting Chairman, said.

Level One Bancorp in Farmington Hills, Mich., is applying its experience working on failed banks to buy and integrate one that is merely struggling. Patrick Fehring, the company's CEO, says that experience integrating failed banks has prepared Level One to buy the struggling Oxford Bank.

The Basel III capital proposals would severely restrict already weak lending at community banks and has to be changed, panelists said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. But international politics and legal requirements will make them hard to change, they acknowledged.

Mary Miller, the U.S. Treasury under secretary for domestic finance, praised the Dodd-Frank Act in a speech at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium Friday.

Regulators should re-examine how they classify deposits, or more banks could be classified as troubled. That was the view of a panel on the Transaction Account Guarantee program at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

Tri-Valley Bank in San Ramon, Calif., has completed a private placement that it said will shore up regulatory capital and support growth.

Prosecutors overreached in suing Luther Burbank Savings, which has agreed to settle charges its single-family mortgages were discriminatory, the bank's lawyer said at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium. He's wrong, a Justice official replied.

Oriental Financial Group in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is looking to raise $36 million of common equity.

Heritage Financial (HFWA) is buying Northwest Commercial Bank of Lakewood, Wash.

Slavie Federal Savings Bank in Bel Air, Md., is taking steps to shore up its regulatory capital.

Mortgage lenders get clarity from Fannie and Freddie; Capital One CEO fears competition from mobile players; former IndyMac CEO fights the SEC.

FirstMerit will have to spend major investor equity to buy struggling Citizens Republic, but its shares are strong enough to afford the deal and the fit would be that good, FirstMerit CEO Paul Greig says.

Panelists at American Banker's Regulatory Symposium, including Eagle Bancorp CEO Ronald Paul, fear that small banks could lose deposits to bigger competitors if the program ends.

Level One Bancorp in Farmington Hills, Mich., has found its next growth opportunity with a deal to buy a struggling 128-year-old bank.

Banks will not regain the public's trust with good marketing, PNC chief executive officer James Rohr tells American Banker's Regulatory Symposium.

Cadence Bancorp has entered San Antonio after hiring a group of lenders from International Bancshares.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not include a 20% down payment requirement for low-risk loans in its pending mortgage proposal, nor does it seek to covertly rewrite Dodd-Frank, Director Richard Cordray told Senate Banking.