WEST

Farm Credit lenders did not get much of what they wanted in the latest farm bill passed by Congress, but they could soon gain more powers to invest in rural communities anyway under a proposal put forth by their regulator.

Florida banks could soon be hit with another wave of municipal deposits as cities and towns pull more of their money out of a state-run investment pool that has lost roughly $17 billion since November.

Capital Corp. of the West in Merced, Calif., reported a surprise first-quarter profit as its loss provision for impaired loans to residential developers came in lower than expected.

Since Franklin Bank Corp. was established in 2002, its organizers have made clear that their plan was to build the company through acquisitions and sell it for top dollar, much as they did with another Houston company, Bank United Corp.

Click here for the top 150 community banks with the largest farm loan portfolios.

Southwest Securities of Dallas is expanding into southern New Mexico. The banking unit of the $5.3 billion-asset SWS Group Inc. said Monday that it recruited a team of experienced bankers to establish a branch in Ruidoso by late July, its first outside of Texas.

Citing declining real estate values in its market area, Provident Financial Holdings Inc. in Riverside, Calif., said Monday that its earnings in the quarter that ended March 31 fell by 59% from the same period a year earlier, to $957,000. Earnings per share fell 58%, to 16 cents.

Robert D. Davis is unfazed when he hears a skeptical reaction to his company's new name: Vist Financial Corp.

Most private-equity groups that invest in banks and thrifts keep their holdings to less than 10% so that they can avoid registering as holding companies, but a Memphis firm with $50 million burning a hole in its pocket has no such reservations.

The four-year-old Emerald Bank in Dublin, Ohio, is adding a second branch by acquiring one in the Columbus suburb of Westerville.

Omni Financial Services Inc. in Atlanta said it is awash in foreclosures and expects to report a "substantial loss" for last year.

CSB Bancorp Inc. of Millersburg, Ohio, plans to acquire Indian Village Bancorp Inc. of Gnadenhutten for $7.9 million in cash and stock.

Moving beyond its troubled past, Rurban Financial Corp. in Defiance, Ohio, has set an ambitious goal: doubling its assets within two years in one of the nation's most economically challenged states.

Federal Trust Corp. in Sanford, Fla., must raise capital by July 15 or sell itself, according to a cease-and-desist order issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Franklin Bank Corp. of Houston will miss another filing deadline.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Oxford Bank Corp. in Michigan said Wednesday that it lost $1 million in the first quarter on bad loans and does not expect to be profitable this year.

A start-up in what was one of the hottest banking markets in the country is closing after only a year in business.