In what would be the first acquisition in its 50-year history, Peoples State Bank in Wausau, Wis., is planning to buy the $108 million-asset Marathon State Bank in nearby Marathon City for $5.6 million.

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During an appearance to business journalists, Cordray defended his agency's powers.

Seacoast Commerce Bank in Chula Vista, Calif., will open its first loan-production office in Utah.

Community bankers are worried about stress tests, even though there is nothing in the Dodd-Frank Act requiring them to do it. While regulators are not requiring the tests for smaller banks, they are increasingly encouraging bankers conduct such tests.

Orrstown Financial Services Inc. in Shippensburg, Pa., said it expects to reach formal agreements with regulators that could require it to strengthen its credit risk management practices.

United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio reported a fourth-quarter profit of $7.9 million, compared with a loss of $17.3 million a year earlier, after selling four branches.

A tepid economy and regulatory uncertainty together make for strange bedfellows, as epitomized by recent deals to sell two banks to, of all things, credit unions. And along with the deals comes renewed debate on whether the nonprofit institutions should be taxed.

For young businesses to succeed, they first need business management tools, networks and coaching. Only after they have these things are they ready to take out loans.

Peoples Financial Corp. in Biloxi, Miss., revised its fourth-quarter and 2011 results to record an additional $660,000 for its loan-loss provision.

Coming off its fourth-straight money-losing year, United Bank of Philadelphia is under orders from state and federal regulators to clean up its loan portfolio, improve its capital ratios and submit to regulators a detailed plan for returning to profitability.

HomeStreet Inc.'s chief financial officer is resigning at the end of the month after helping the once-battered Seattle banking company recapitalize.

The FDIC is holding an auction for jewelry it inherited from the failed Tennessee Commerce Bank. The bank picked up the baubles after a jewelry store defaulted.

Highlands Bankshares Inc. in Petersburg, W. Va., will combine the roles of chairman and chief executive in May.

MetroCorp Bancshares in Houston has revised its fourth-quarter earnings to reflect a $3 million goodwill impairment charge relating to a drop in its market value.

First Mariner Bancorp Inc. in Baltimore is looking to grow its mortgage business even as it continues to deal with elevated levels of loan losses and a shrinking balance sheet.

Last year, for the first time in anyone's recollection, there were no new bank charters approved, with the exception of three specifically blessed to acquire failed banks.

A trade group representing bank boards says directors have become "overwhelmed" by rules and regulations and is urging banking agencies and Congress to quickly take steps to ease their burden.

The Treasury Department in 2010 took a massive haircut on its investment in Pacific Capital and now stands to make roughly 90 cents on the dollar from the bank's sale to UnionBanCal. It's a reminder that taking your lumps early on problem assets can be beneficial.

Congress should repeal Sarbanes-Oxley to increase the flow of equity capital to micro- and small-cap public companies. Lawmakers also must increase the allotment for the SBA 7(a) program and guarantee it exists for the next three years.