Despite the unrelenting bad news about collapsing real estate values in many markets in the Southeast, community banks can still point to a few cities and regions where real estate lending remains strong.

PVF Capital Corp. of Solon, Ohio, has called off its planned sale to United Community Financial Corp. in Youngstown.

An eighth 2008 banking deal fell apart Monday when Center Financial Corp. in Los Angeles said its $65.2 million agreement to buy First Intercontinental Bank in Doraville, Ga., is off.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd., which has bet its success on an innovative model of expanding into high-growth territories, is paring back its exposure to its low-growth home turf of Michigan.

Any proposal as sweeping as the Treasury Department’s plan to revamp the financial services regulatory system stands a high likelihood of drawing sharply mixed reactions and some significant heat.

Malvern Federal Savings Bank in Paoli, Pa., said Friday that it is cutting the number of shares it plans to sell in an initial public offering by 15%, because of the declining values for thrift stocks.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd.’s most recent deal puts a different spin on cradle-to-grave service.

More than two months after reporting a fourth-quarter profit of $778,000, WGNB Corp. of Carrollton, Ga., said it actually lost roughly $3.5 million in the quarter, after it discovered more problem loans in its real estate portfolio.

Mercantile Bank Corp. in Grand Rapids is warning investors that it expects to record a loss for the first quarter after concluding that "numerous" commercial borrowers would be unable to make their loan payments.

Mutual of Omaha’s thrift unit is wasting no time following through on a pledge to build a nationwide branch network.

Activist Cape Fear Bank Corp. shareholder Maurice J. Koury fielded an alternative slate of director nominees Thursday for the $464 million-asset bank in Wilmington, N.C.

Now that its long-delayed sale to a Maryland real estate investment trust has officially been called off, TierOne Corp. is focused on getting its house back in order.

MIDDLE ATLANTIC

Hispanic consumers and business owners are not saving and borrowing as much as bankers had hoped.

Are Capital Corp. of the West's days as an independent company numbered?

Centrue Financial Corp. decided to make St. Louis its new home because its old one did not offer the same opportunity for growth.

TransCommunity Financial Corp. in Glen Allen, Va., said Monday that three shareholder groups that had previously objected to its agreement to sell itself to a "blank check" company in Alexandria have given the deal their blessing.

For Jeff Smith, the potential nightmare of identity theft hit home when his wife received a call in December from the couple's credit card company asking if she had made a $250 purchase at a Jack-in-the-Box in Ontario, Calif.

A South Dakota law that is scheduled to take effect July 1 could pave the way for state-chartered banks to start building more branches.

Liberty Financial Services Inc. of Sioux City, Iowa, plans to acquire Valley Bank, an Elk Point, S.D., unit of Haugo Bancshares Inc. of Sioux Falls.