United Community Banks Inc. in Blairsville, Ga., reported a fourth-quarter loss of $46.7 million, or 99 cents per share, as problem loans to home builders piled up.

Cathleen H. Nash will have her work cut out for her when she takes over as chief executive at Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. in Flint, Mich., next month.

PacWest Bancorp in San Diego said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 43% from a year earlier, to $9.6 million, as a result of higher credit costs.

Despite management's best efforts to clean up the loan portfolio, credit problems accelerated in the fourth quarter at Amcore Financial Inc. of Rockford, Ill.

National Bank of Commerce in Berkeley, Ill., was an anomaly among bank failures, given its decent credit quality.

A commonly calculated measure of bank productivity is the efficiency ratio: noninterest expense/(net interest income + noninterest income).

Citing trouble with its leasing portfolio, Lakeland Bancorp Inc. in Oak Ridge, N.J., said Thursday that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 73% from a year earlier, to $889,000, or 4 cents a share.

Shares of Hancock Holding Co. fell 16.5% Wednesday, to $27.57, after the Gulfport, Miss., company reported that fourth-quarter earnings fell 50% from a year earlier, to $8.3 million.

MIDWEST

Fulton Financial Corp. of Lancaster, Pa., swung to a loss of $102.3 million, or 58 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, from a profit of $38.2 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.

One of the nation's top-performing community banking companies in 2007 is in danger of becoming the next Southern California failure.

With its economy in shambles, Florida would hardly seem like the place to start a bank these days.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. in Kansas City, Mo., said Tuesday that fourth-quarter earnings were flat with a year earlier, at $43.8 million, or 58 cents a share, as net interest income improved and credit quality deteriorated.

West Coast Bancorp in Lake Oswego, Ore., said it lost $8.2 million in the fourth quarter, as losses on loans for custom-built homes ballooned.

Pacific Continental Corp. in Eugene, Ore., said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter earnings increased 15.9% from a year earlier, to $3.8 million. Earnings per share rose 14.3%, to 32 cents, beating analysts' estimates by a nickel.

When San Francisco was establishing a program three years ago to move unbanked consumers into the financial mainstream, banks and credit unions signed on because "it was a good political opportunity to generate good will," said Matt Fellowes, an advocate for the unbanked who advised city officials.

TierOne Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., has entered into a supervisory agreement with its regulator that calls for the company to strengthen its loan policies and keep an elevated level of capital.

New England Bancshares Inc. in Enfield, Conn., has agreed to buy the struggling Apple Valley Bank and Trust Co. in Cheshire, Conn., for $7.3 million in cash and stock.

Howard Milstein, the chairman and chief executive of New York Private Bank and Trust Corp., does not see patience as a virtue.

W.L. Ross & Co. is not involved in a venture to buy struggling BankUnited Financial Corp., a principal at the private-equity firm said Thursday.