As the nation's Hispanic population continues to swell, more community banks are hiring bilingual employees and offering services such as online and telephone banking in English and Spanish.

If there was a bright spot in Whitney Holding Corp.'s announcement last week that its chargeoffs and loan-loss provision rose substantially in the second quarter, it is that nonperforming loans are not piling up as quickly as they had in previous quarters.

The housing market downturn has caught up with Columbia Banking System Inc.

First Chicago Bancorp hopes its deal to merge with a subprime automobile lender will supercharge its plan to triple assets within five years.

Chevy Chase Bank is giving up on supermarket branches.

While discussing customer service with banking groups, I often like to ask whether their services are "complimentary" enough.

Shares of Indiana Community Bancorp fell sharply Thursday after the Columbus company warned that its second-quarter earnings would be reduced by about $1.2 million, or 37 cents per share, because of a higher loan-loss provision and an impairment charge.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. in Olney, Md., has said it will report a higher-than-expected loan-loss provision for the second quarter when it reports earnings this month.

NEW ENGLAND

AUSTIN — Four years after entering Texas with its purchase of First American Bank in Bryan, Citigroup Inc. is looking for an exit strategy.

A "critically undercapitalized" thrift in Colorado has been slapped with an enforcement order that prohibits it from paying dividends, accepting brokered deposits, or paying bonuses to its executives without approval from the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Shares of Park National Corp. in Newark, Ohio, fell sharply Wednesday after the company said that continued loan losses at its troubled Florida bank led to increased chargeoffs and forced it to boost its loss provision significantly in the second quarter.

For the second straight quarter, PacWest Bancorp in San Diego is taking a large impairment charge related to a string of acquisitions it has made this decade.

First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque plans to close its two Utah branches by Oct. 31 in an effort to strengthen its capital position and help it weather the economic downturn.

This year is shaping up to be the slowest for bank mergers and acquisitions in nearly two decades, and with many banks either hanging on to capital or wary of inheriting another bank's problem loans, the pace of dealmaking is unlikely to pick up again until late 2009 or perhaps even 2010, industry observers say.

The National Credit Union Administration is considering an industry request to ease restrictions on construction and development lending, though acknowledging that construction loans are particularly risky these days.

A struggling Franklin Bank in Houston is readjusting the losses and earnings it reported over the past three quarters, mostly for the better.

A sagging stock price could get Omni Financial Services Inc. delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Security Bank Corp. in Macon, Ga., is warning that it might take a goodwill impairment charge in the second quarter.

Ronald J. Carlson has been appointed board chairman and acting president and chief executive officer of the $422 million-asset 1st Pacific Bancorp in San Diego.