Mechanics Bank in Richmond, Calif., is testing the Treasury Department's flexibility for banks participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The outlook for Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. in West Chester, Ohio, appears increasingly grim after a second deal to sell itself collapsed.

Heritage Community Bancorp Inc. in Glenwood, Ill., is once again looking for a lifeline after an agreement to receive a cash infusion from First Community Financial Partners of Joliet expired Dec. 31.

NEW ENGLAND

With the secondary market for Small Business Administration loans frozen, Temecula Valley Bancorp Inc., one of the nation's most active SBA lenders, stopped taking applications for those loans Monday.

As bigger lenders tighten credit, small and midsize businesses are warming conceptually to striking relationships with community banks — and the banks appear receptive.

A struggling Ohio banking company is back on the market after a second deal to sell itself fell through.

The case for fiscal and monetary stimulus has never been greater since the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. The difficult question is not whether but how to structure interventionist federal assistance.

Cascade Bancorp Inc. in Bend, Ore., restated its second- and third-quarter results because of a miscalculation that understated its loan-loss reserves.

Southern National Bancorp of Virginia Inc. said Monday that it has moved its bank subsidiary's headquarters from Charlottesville to McLean and switched from a national to a state charter.

Banks are facing yet another challenge to profits: a slew of downgrades on trust-preferred securities in their investment portfolios.

Dearborn Bancorp Inc. in Michigan said it plans to take nearly $40 million in noncash pretax impairment charges for last year's fourth quarter to better align its book value with its tangible book value.

Community banks that sell mortgages to Wells Fargo & Co. through a partnership with the American Bankers Association can expect the relationship to continue for at least another year.

Premier Financial Bancorp Inc. in Huntington, W.Va., has agreed to buy the struggling Abigail Adams National Bancorp Inc. in Washington for $10.9 million in stock.

Shares of Flagstar Bancorp Inc. soared Friday after the company announced that it would bypass shareholder approval for a placement of private capital that hinges on its ability to get money from the Treasury.

Rusty Cloutier has heard the word "bailout" more often than he can stand.

Guaranty Financial Group Inc. in Austin, Tex., has sold its wholly owned insurance subsidiary to JLT Insurance Agency Holdings Inc. for about $40 million.

CapitalSource Inc. enjoys a tax advantage as a real estate investment trust, but it is willing to give that up to accelerate loan growth, lower its funding costs, and gain access to a larger infusion of government capital.