In announcing a fifth consecutive quarterly loss Wednesday, Irwin Financial Corp. in Columbus, Ind., said it would consider exiting its troublesome home equity business.

Any chance that PFF Bancorp could survive as an independent company appeared to disintegrate last week when it said it expects to report a $159 million loss for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31.

With the troubles of the automobile industry battering its home territory, First Place Financial Corp. is buying its way into the more stable markets of southern Ohio.

MIDWEST

The troubled Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., has entered a written agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.

A home builder's demise has forced West Bancorp. Inc. in West Des Moines to add $5 million to its previously reported loan-loss provision and revise its first-quarter earnings.

This year is shaping up to be a slow one for bank openings as organizing groups wait for the economy to rebound and regulators take more time than usual to approve charter applications.

Tennessee Commerce Bancorp Inc. in Franklin said in a Tuesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has fired its chief financial officer, George W. Fort, about two months after putting him on paid leave.

Seven months after its deal to sell itself to a Little Rock banking company fell through, Union Bancshares Inc. in Benton, Ark., has found another buyer.

Empire Bank Buying in Southwest Mo.Empire Bank of Springfield, Mo., is expanding in southwest Missouri with a deal to buy Greene County Bank.

AmericasBank Corp. of Towson, Md., said Monday that it has dismissed Mark H. Anders as its president and chief executive officer and appointed A. Gary Rever as the acting CEO of the company and its AmericasBank.

Suddenly, slow and steady is in.

WSFS Financial Corp. in Wilmington, Del., has bought a majority stake in a reverse mortgage company, 1st Reverse Financial Services LLC in Westmont, Ill.

Franklin Bank Corp. in Houston gave a glimpse of what its 2007 earnings report might look like, and investors did not like what they saw.

Vineyard National Bancorp's losses continue to pile up as a result of rapidly declining real estate values in California's Inland Empire.

FirstBank Holding Co., the largest locally owned banking company in Colorado, is privately held and relatively low-profile.

An accounting firm that questioned Peoples Community Bancorp's ability to survive as an independent company has resigned as the West Chester, Ohio, thrift company's accountant.

AUSTIN — One bad quarter can sure set a bank's growth plan back, particularly if it's the only quarter the bank has to show for itself.

PFF Bancorp Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., said late Wednesday that it expects to record a loss of about $159 million for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31, in part because of an estimated $196 million provision for losses on residential construction loans.