Umpqua Bank announced Thursday that it is launching a lending program aimed targeting small businesses that might have struggled to get financing elsewhere. (UMPQ)

Sterling Banks Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by Roma Financial Corp. for $14.7 million in cash, or $2.52 per share. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. (STBK) (ROMA)

Enterprise Bancorp Inc. said it recently changed its by-laws to give existing board members more flexibility on where they live and work.

TSYS, whose profit dipped 13 percent in 2009, reduced its top executive?s total compensation. (TSS)

PrimeLending has named a manager for the Leawood branch it opened on Jan. 1, its first branch in the Kansas City area.

Apple Inc. said Thursday that long-time member of its board Jerry York has died at age 71.

Charles River Associates International, a Boston-based provider of financial and industry-specific litigation support and consulting services, said it will close its Houston office and eliminate 36 consulting jobs as well as administrative staff in response to a tough fiscal quarter that saw revenue and net income fall in the double digits.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay presented the Mayor?s Spirit of St. Louis Award Thursday to AgraForm, a chemical processing plant and packaging company.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to hear a court case involving a $9 million loan to a Milwaukee condominium developer from Town Bank.

Erie County is one of 28 government entities that will be scrutinized by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as he widens a probe into potential padding within the New York State pension system.

The Family Business Center at the University of Louisville will hold a workshop aimed at helping family-business owners understand how to have adequate growth capital while satisfying family members? needs for ready cash.

Peoples Federal Savings Bank of Brighton said it plans to raise up to $64 million in a mutual-to-stock conversion.

Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania said Thursday it has entered into its second enforcement agreement with regulators, and reported losing $10 million in the fourth quarter because of ongoing loan stress and impairment charges for securities. (RBPAA)

Medical device maker Rhythmia Medical Inc. has raised $2.7 million in equity financing, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Great Florida Bank will be told by federal banking regulators to increase its capital ratios. (GFLB)

Bank of the West said Thursday that Duke Dayal joined the bank as chief financial officer.

The state Attorney General?s office has started a probe of people who pad their state pensions at taxpayer expense.

While some pundits fear the nation?s ongoing economic recovery could be a pleasant dream headed for another nightmare, the chief economist of the nation?s second-largest bank is simply feeling a case of deja vu. (JPM)

Bank of the West named Duke Dayal as its chief financial officer on Thursday.

A former branch manager at TopDot Mortgage in Boca Raton, along with a bank vice president and a Palm Beach Gardens attorney, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in what authorities say was a mortgage scam.

Fortune Bank said it wants to increase the number of its common stock to 250 million from 10 million in an effort to raise at least $450 million.

Olney-based Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. has priced shares for a secondary offering and set the number of shares to be sold, an offering that will increase its shares outstanding by as much as 45 percent. (SASR)

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. this week announced it sold $300 million in bonds to raise cash to pay off a portion of senior unsecured notes due March 19, 2020.

The receiver for the estate of accused Houston Ponzi-schemer R. Allen Stanford is trying to recoup more than $5 million from an Austin lobbyist and his firm, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

Catholic Family Federal Credit Union is preparing to begin construction on its new branch in west Wichita.

A junior lender on the W Atlanta-Downtown hotel and condos at Allen Plaza has advertised the posh hotel for foreclosure, but the project?s developer said Wednesday he is in talks to restructure the debt and save his interests in the luxury high-rise.

Colorado biotech company Arca BioPharma Inc. said Wednesday it has notified by the NASDAQ Stock Market that it has fallen short of equity requirements for continued listing. (ABIO)

Outgoing Regions Financial Corp. CEO Dowd Ritter had total 2009 compensation of nearly $9.7 million, the company reported Wednesday. (RF)

Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. will sell $83 million in stock in a secondary public offering. (SASR)

A $32 million real estate debt remaining from its expansion to Newton prompted Hebrew College President Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann to hold a conference call with bondholders this week to discuss alternatives for easing the crunch.

Concord Bank announced three senior management promotions Wednesday.

BankAtlantic Bancorp?s stock surged 26 percent on Wednesday to reach its highest point since October.

U.S. Bancorp on Wednesday said it will create an independent nonprofit organization to continue the work in Chicago?s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods that Park National Bank started before U.S. Bank acquired its assets last October. (USB)

Comerica Inc. said Wednesday it has paid back $2.5 billion to the U.S. Department of Treasury to cover aid the company received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program?s Capital Purchase Program in late 2008. (CMA)

losil Energy Corp. has closed on a $13.5 million round of financing.

Three Washington state banks saw their shares plummet in Wednesday trading after each announced some bad news a day earlier. (FTBK) (CTBK) (STSA)

Former FleetBoston Financial Corp. Chief Executive Chad Gifford received $1.8 million in fees, private-jet use and other perks last year as a Bank of America Corp. adviser and board member. Gifford brokered FleetBoston?s sale to Charlotte-based BofA in 2003. (BAC)

Telecommunications giant AT&T has sent a Network Disaster Recovery team to Chile to ensure that the country?s network is secured to allow communications to continue in the event another disaster should strike. (T)

Shareholders of UMB Financial Corp., set for a vote to fill six seats on the board of directors, also will consider a shareholder proposal to require all directors to stand for election annually.

Urban Trust Bank in Lake Mary has contacted the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to report that counterfeit checks bearing the institution?s name are in circulation.

Sonoma Bank?s parent, Sterling Financial Corp., said it must raise at least $650 million as part of a broader recapitalization. (STSA)

Waterstone Bank?s holding company said its net loss was $1.3 million larger than previously reported after restating year-end 2009 financial results to account for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. premiums. (WSBF)

Commerce Construction Services Inc. will serve as the general contractor on a new Community Bank of Wichita branch in Haysville.

Synovus Financial Corp. promoted Wade M. Burford to president and CEO of CB&T of East Alabama. (SNV)

Chad Gifford, the former FleetBoston Financial CEO who brokered the bank?s sale to Bank of America Corp. in 2003, received $1.8 million in fees, private jet usage and other perks last year as a BofA adviser and board member. (BAC)

World Golf Tour closed a $10 million Series C financing round led by JAFCO Ventures, the venture capital arm of Japan-based private equity firm JAFCO Co.

Financial services company USAA bucked the downturn in the national economy by achieving its best fiscal year ever in 2009.

The California State Teachers? Retirement System on Tuesday named Margot Wirth the director of its $16.8 billion private equity portfolio.

Jeff Burzinski, who started Chaska-based Community Bank Corp. in 2000 and has been its CEO since then, is retiring this May.

PremierWest Bancorp raised $18.7 million through its recently concluded rights offering, the parent of PremierWest Bank announced. (PRWT)

Fidelity Southern Corp. trimmed its net loss and its top executive?s total compensation in 2009. (LION)

Maybe we should just give our money to the kids at Lipscomb University.

Bethesda-based Micromet has completed a secondary stock offering of 11.5 million shares, with underwriters exercising their full option. (MITI)

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has named Donald Tyler, an MSO board member and retired vice president of investment products and services at Northwestern Mutual, as interim president and executive director.

Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. is combining its equity capital markets and fixed income capital markets divisions to form a new investment banking division. (RF)

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter with a boost from revenue.

The parent company of Enterprise Bank & Trust named John Eulich and John Tracy to its board of directors to fill seats vacated by Kevin Eichner and Bob Saur, who retired from the board last year.

Boston?s Congress Asset Management said it has acquired Prelude Asset Management in a deal that creates a combined firm with $6.4 billion in assets under management.

Nine small companies, including three in the Bay Area, have joined a proposed class action federal lawsuit that accuses San Francisco-based Yelp Inc. of extorting money in exchange for manipulating user reviews of businesses, attorneys in Miami and California said this morning.

First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. has sold $300 million in debt.

Dutch asset manager APG has filed suit against Bank of America Corp., alleging the Charlotte-based bank withheld information from shareholders when it bought Merrill Lynch & Co. (BAC)

Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. hired Rajiv Srivastava as chief operating officer, a new position, in India. (HPQ) (MSFT)

Duluth, Ga.-based insurer Primerica Inc. could raise up to $290 million in a planned initial public offering the company said Wednesday, not including some $230 million in stock that could be purchased by a private equity group. (C)

NGP Capital Resources Co. said Tuesday that its financial statements for all of 2007 and 2008 plus the first three quarters of 2009 will have to be restated. (NGPC)

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. is setting up a Houston office for its Americas Real Estate Investment Banking (REIB) business and has lured away three executives from CB Richard Ellis to handle the local workload.

Financial Engines Inc. shares shot up almost 44 percent following the portfolio management and investment service company's initial public offering Tuesday.

A Colorado man is accused in an indictment of running a multistate investment-fraud scheme while he was being prosecuted in an earlier securities-fraud case ? for which he?s now serving time.

Wells Fargo said Tuesday that it will eliminate 415 positions as it combines two Sacramento call centers. (WFC)

Sterling Financial Corp. on Tuesday said it?s received a nonbinding letter of intent from a private equity firm as part of its efforts to raise $300 million as it struggles to overcome its financial problems. (STSA)

Shares of Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE: CPF) jumped 17.99 percent to $1.64 on Tuesday, just before it announced it would downsize Central Pacific Bank?s assets in part by selling off $500 million in securities. (CPF) (ALEX) (BOH) (HE) (MLP)

Wells Fargo Bank said Tuesday it is combining its Sacramento call centers, which will eliminate a total of 415 positions.

Frontier Financial Corp. Tuesday more than doubled its initially announced fourth-quarter loss, revising its net loss to $70.2 million, or a loss of $14.89 per share, from its initially stated loss of $33.9 million, or a loss of $7.19 per share. (FTBK)

Fort Lauderdale-based Stonegate Bank (OTCBB: SGBK) filed a foreclosure lawsuit March 1 against Weston-based Oakland Park Associates and managing member Paul E. Rosen, according to Broward County Circuit Court records. It concerns a $2.5 million mortgage issued in 2007 for a shopping center.

Sterling Financial Corp. on Tuesday said it?s received a nonbinding letter of intent from a private equity firm as part of its efforts to raise $300 million as it struggles to overcome its financial problems. (STSA)

Miami-Dade County could lose its interest in a $1 million loan to the developer of the Capital Lofts in downtown Miami if the first mortgage holder succeeds in its foreclosure lawsuit.

The Office of Thrift Supervision made Home Federal Bank of Hollywood pay a $3,850 fine for violating federal flood insurance laws.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. has replaced Chairman Ronald Migita with a bank turnaround specialist and plans to downsize the bank?s assets, the company announced Tuesday. (CPF)

Chantilly-based Intersections Inc., which sells subscription-based credit monitoring services, reported a smaller quarterly loss and higher sales. (INTX)

A Wachovia Bank spokeswoman said the bank hopes to reopen its local headquarters branch at 123 Broad St. in Philadelphia within two weeks after a Monday evening fire caused smoke and soot damage.

San Ramon-based Tri-Valley Bank raised $6 million in a move that could allow the $87 million bank to eventually double in size.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it intends to open another 500 Walmart MoneyCenters this year, including 13 in Houston. (WMT)

Gold?s Gym International Inc. will open a new facility in Loudoun County. (FPO)

Some of South Florida?s largest credit unions had a difficult time in the fourth quarter with Bauer Financial downgrading ratings for four of them.

U.S. life sciences companies secured $1.9 billion in venture capital financing in the fourth quarter, according to a new report from online venture capital database VentureDeal.

The board of Maritime Savings Bank is holding ?meaningful dialog? with several undisclosed parties that would invest in the bank that is short of its regulatory capital requirements.

TECO Energy Inc. and subsidiary TECO Finance Inc. completed a $550 million public offering. (TE)

GreenBank announced today that it has tapped a Fifth Third Bank executive to take over as CEO and chairman of its board of directors.

Speculation has emerged that Harley-Davidson Inc. could be the target of a leveraged buyout by a private equity firm, fueling a surge in trading for the motorcycle manufacturer's shares, according to a Reuters report. (HOG)

Gaithersburg-based software maker BroadSoft Inc. plans an initial public stock offering that could raise as much as $103.5 million.

Bed manufacturer and retailer Select Comfort Corp. has dismissed KPMG as its auditor, replacing the firm with Deloitte & Touche.

Fort William LLC, a Milwaukee company that provides retirement plan administration software services, has been acquired by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business of Riverwoods, Ill.

Fannie Mae's Help the Homeless program raised $5.8 million in 2009, up from $5.6 million in 2008. (FNM)

Encore Bancshares Inc. has executed two separate deals to sell its Florida operations, the company said Tuesday. (EBTX)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has given City Bank of Lynnwood 30 days to raise more money or find a buyer for the bank. (CTBK)

Insurer Lincoln National Corp. said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer Frederick J. Crawford will transition into the newly created position of executive vice president of corporate development and investments. He will remain CFO until a replacement is named. (LNC)

Scottrade said Tuesday that it is opening an office in Eau Claire March 29, giving the branch-supported online investing firm eight branch offices in Wisconsin.

Berkadia Commercial Mortgage said it will host senior representatives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in Birmingham for a multifamily lending summit.

Encore Bank N.A. is leaving the Florida market and plans to sell its Florida operations to HomeBanc N.A. and to National Bank of Southwest Florida, a proposed bank organized by an investor group from Ohio. (EBTX)

BNY Mellon Wealth Management said it hired three new people to expand its business development team for Boston and the surrounding region.

Back up the moving truck right here: Kentucky software startup Backupify Inc. has raised $1.1 million and is coming to Boston.

Sport Supply Group Inc. said late Monday the company has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Oncap Management Partners L.P. for $13.55 per share in cash. (RBI)

Financial Engines Inc. stock soared more than 40 percent Tuesday on its first day of trading after it raised about $127 million in an initial public offering that exceeded expectations. (FNGN) (FTNT)

Metro Bancorp Inc. and Republic First Bancorp Inc. said Monday that their boards of directors had voted to terminate their November 2008 merger agreement because of uncertainties over the regulatory approval process, which, after more than a year, had still not been completed. (METR) (FRBK)

Two local banks were among those involved in bidding for the failed Millennium State Bank of Texas, according to a document released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Tarpon Towers LLC, a company focused on wireless communications towers has picked up a $15 million equity commitment from Spire Capital Partners.

Piper Jaffray Cos. CEO Andrew Duff saw a big decline in compensation last year, despite getting a $1.2 million bonus. (PJC)

Sixty-four Hawaii residents and businesses were victims of a Ponzi scheme that federal authorities say was run by a Florida man.

An apartment tower in south Buckhead built by noted Atlanta condo developer Tivoli Properties Inc. is slated for a foreclosure auction next month.

First Coweta Bank grew too fast and depended too heavily on residential real estate development loans, according to a federal audit of how the Newnan, Ga.-based $164 million-in-assets lender failed.

Cascade Bancorp lost $93.1 million in 2009, improving on 2008?s $134.6 million loss, the bank holding company announced Monday. (CACB)

United Western Bancorp lost $40 million in the final quarter of 2009, as the bank struggled through a ?very difficult? period, officials said on Monday. (UWBK)

Washington?s credit unions have scored a big political win against rival banks with the passage of a key piece of state legislation that will allow them the opportunity to greatly widen their deposit market share.

Horizon Bank intends to appeal a prompt corrective action directive ordering the bank to raise more capital or sell itself.

Equity One, an owner, developer, and operator of shopping centers, announced the closing of its public offering on 4.83 million shares of its common stock, resulting in about $87.6 million of net proceeds after expenses. (EQY)

Bank of America is pondering expansion in China that could make it easier for the bank to conduct commercial banking in the fast growing nation, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Target Corp. appointed Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO John Stumpf to its board of directors, effective immediately. (TGT) (WFC)

Southwest Bank?s president, Andrew Baur, and chief executive, Bob Witterschein, resigned Monday to join Enterprise Bank & Trust.

The California Public Employees? Retirement System is ramping up its corporate governance efforts, and it plans to ask some of the top companies in its portfolio to adopt majority vote standards for elections of corporate directors.

Circle Bank said Monday that it completed the purchase of the Novato property that will serve as the bank?s headquarters.

A team of Carnegie Mellon University MBA students took home the grand prize in the Cleantech contest for the 2010 McGinnis Venture Competition, a global business plan challenge hosted each year at the Tepper School of Business.

Negotiations between Sen. Bob Corker and the head Democrat steering financial reform haven?t resulted in the bipartisan agreement the Tennessee Republican envisioned, at this point.

Nine teams of researchers from universities across Alabama have been selected as finalists to compete for seed money in the 2010 Alabama Launchpad contest.

Arlington-based FBR Capital Markets Corp. has completed its acquisition of the mutual fund operations of AFBA 5Star Investment Management Co., expanding the mutual fund business for FBR and expanding fund choices for members of the Armed Forces Benefits Association. (FBCM)

San Antonio businessman Red McCombs has become the lead investor in a fund established by venture capital firm MPOWER Ventures.

Arvest Bank in Kansas City has started setting up a local board of directors, naming Dennis Woolman as its first outside director.

Younger financial services professionals are more avid users of social media Web sites than their older peers, according to a survey released Monday by LederMark Communications.

The Pittsburgh banking market, with 59 lenders and $71.7 billion in deposits, ranked third in terms of deposits in Pennsylvania in 2009, according to a state profile from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Pittsburgh is, of course, home to the nation's fifth-largest bank, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:PNC). (PNC)

Brokerage Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. has opened an office in Wheaton, Ill., a Chicago suburb.

Credit Suisse will manage the $230 million ?innovation fund? being set up in the state treasurer?s office to invest in companies with a significant presence in North Carolina, Treasurer Janet Cowell announced Monday. (CS)

Washington-based private equity company Allied Capital Corp. is eliminating 91 local jobs, equivalent to 85 percent of its staff, according to a federal notice the company filed with the District. (ALD)

Houston-based banks have stayed mostly healthy throughout the recession compared to the rest of the nation, according to the 2010 Texas Banks Update by financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. (EBTX) (IBKC)

Denver-area financial adviser Mark J. Jackson pleaded guilty in Denver District Court on Monday to racketeering, the top count in a 2009 indictment against him, according to the Denver District Attorney?s Office.

Vacation rental Web site operator HomeAway Inc. closed a $8.2 million round of financing that?s related to one of its recent acquisitions.

Even The Donald?s name couldn?t save the Trump International Hotel and Tower ? Fort Lauderdale.

Baltimore private equity firm Camden Partners has gained a seat on the board of The Princeton Review after two of its funds purchased $10 million in the educational company?s stock. (REVU)

Elevar Equity, which invests in mid-stage microfinance institutions in emerging countries, said it?s raised $70 million for an equity fund that will invest in growth companies in countries such India, Mexico, the Philippines and Peru.

Comerica Inc.?s plan to exit the TARP program by raising at least $800 million via a stock offering has analysts predicting Comerica will be an active bidder for failed banks in California.

Beacon Enterprise Solutions Group Inc. is seeking to reduce the number of the company?s outstanding stock warrants.

McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp. charged off an annualized 10.2 percent of its domestic credit cards in February, down from 10.4 percent in January, the company reported Monday, March 15. (COF)

Rapid7 LLC has raised $2 million of a planned $4 million venture round, according to a regulatory filing posted last week.

Through two of its newly created donor-advised funds, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro has been able to keep the resources of two corporate foundations in the city.

Renowned entrepreneur Red McCombs has joined Austin-based venture capital firm MPOWER Ventures II as lead investor.

The weekly roundup of senior-level executive appointments in the Washington area. For more People on the Move, check out the Washington Business Journal?s print edition each week. Send announcements to washingtonbusinessleads@bizjournals.com.

One of the concerns in the commercial real estate market, as with so many industries, has been the lack of available credit. A lesser-known financing option, however ? in the form of lending from life insurance companies ? is poised to become more prevalent this year, potentially doubling its investments in commercial mortgages this year.

Credit unions face a curious challenge as their members get their financial houses in order. When members save more and borrow less, the credit union ends up paying more on savings while taking in less on loans.

Commercial real estate owners with loans maturing in the next year should seriously consider getting lease extensions from tenants now, bankers say.

CPA firm BST LLC needs 120 computers.

It seems logical that because the economy has delivered such a heavy blow to investors over the past two years, investment firms would also feel the pain.

It?s been said that anything is possible with time and money. Commercializing high-tech ideas can require a lot of both.

The top executive of First Niagara Financial Group Inc. wants to make one thing clear: He still believes in community banking.

A unique Triad organization that has helped get 16 promising young companies off the ground is preparing to launch a second regional investment fund.

With the U.S. economy experiencing its worst downturn in more than half a century, one would think that personal bankruptcy filings would be through the roof. But that has not been the case. Filings are just beginning to edge upward to levels seen before the enactment of a bankruptcy law in 2005 that made it more onerous for consumers to file.

While the majority of Americans have maintained their philanthropic mindset despite the economic doldrums, more than one in four have cut their giving, according to a survey conducted by PNC Wealth Management, a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services Group.

A fellow churchgoer approached telecommunications company owner Joseph J. Ernest about investing $1.5 million in a new Florida bank and getting a spot on its board.

A new investment fund plans to lend exclusively to Florida businesses ? including two South Florida companies that already have secured financing from it.

The standoff between the U.S. Attorney?s Office in Miami and the bankruptcy trustee for the defunct law firm of Ponzi schemer Scott W. Rothstein kicked up a notch this week.

The failure and takeover of Boca Raton-based Sun American Bank on March 5 introduced another large bank into the competitive South Florida market. (FCNCA)

18 months into the start of his company?s ambitious growth plan, Duncan-Williams, Inc., president Duncan Williams is happy with the results.

TAMPA ? Horizon Bay at Hyde Park, a 136-apartment independent and assisted living retirement community under construction in South Tampa, is slated to bring jobs and business activity when it opens in 2011.

Webster Bank?s stock is off the scrap heap and CEO James Smith is ready to pounce in Boston.

As a U.S. Navy pilot, Earl ?Bud? Watson III used to harass Russian submarines, skimming above the choppy waters of the North Atlantic in a Grumman S-2 Tracker plane. That was the easy part. Then he had to land that plane on a bobbing and rolling aircraft carrier. It was best to do that at night, he says, so you?re not distracted by all of that extra motion. Today, as a veteran of providing wealth management and trust services, Watson is all about completing the mission for clients. His gratification comes from solving client problems or helping them reach a goal, even though sometimes you don?t know if you?ve done a good job until many years later. Watson recently sat down with Boston Business Journal reporter Tim McLaughlin to talk about his aviation and wealth management careers.

The decisions of two civic organizations to negotiate a move to Union Station has the owner of Commerce Tower rethinking its plan to buy more downtown Kansas City office buildings, its president said.

Jim Hemphill Chief investment strategist TGS Financial Advisors, Radnor www.tgsfinancial.com People spend way too much time, now and always, trying to figure out where the market is going next week or what the hot investment will be over the next six months. Nobody has consistently useful answers to those questions in the long run. Instead, anyone who wants to get rich and stay rich should focus on the real drivers of financial security ? savings rate for those still working, or spending rate for those in retirement. Assuming a sensible investment strategy (Google ?John Bogle? for some excellent baseline ideas), the short-term and long-term fluctuations of the market are noise. The signal is what you spend or save. If you are working, and you save a high proportion of your income, you will be just fine ? especially if markets decline.

The founders of the recently launched Covenant Multifamily Offices LLC have set an ambitious goal in a tough economy ? to build the firm?s assets under management up to the $1 billion mark before the end of next year.

Jeff Vinik won?t cross his arms for a photo.

RALEIGH ? A little noticed chunk of the federal stimulus package that could save local governments millions of dollars in debt payments is beginning to take wings with city and county financial leaders across the state.

RALEIGH ? A company affiliated with troubled Raleigh real estate investment firm SilverDeer LLC has called it quits, according to a March 4 letter sent to investors.

A new type of venture capital is launching in Austin.

A longtime Austin banker is raising a $25 million opportunity fund that would provide short-term loans to builders to fill the lending void created by the credit crisis and tighter restrictions by regulators.

A Fifth Third Bancorp stock sale to pay back $3.4 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program money could be imminent, one analyst said.

Federal regulators, who have been cracking down on the state?s troubled banks, have eased up in one key area that some have feared could accelerate bank failures.

Bay Area banks are grappling with how to keep credit card loans to distressed borrowers from going bad.

The founder of a group for entrepreneurs has criticized a group of the wealthy individual investors known as angels over the fees it charges companies to participate in its annual event.

The State Compensation Insurance Fund is working to build a stable foundation for the future, not an easy task in a California workers? compensation insurance niche that?s seen premium volume plummet by 61 percent in recent years.

Bay Area community bankers are passing the hat to kick off an advertising campaign to urge people to bank locally.

James M. Nason was recently promoted to vice president and economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where he will lead the monetary and macroeconomics section in the bank?s research department.

The old Sena Weller Rohs Williams investment advisory firm took a big hit when Bill Sena left. But it?s already making changes to get growing again.

Robert Beck might be one of the few local investment advisers who has been in the business since he was a teenager.

Fifth Third Bancorp plans to add ?at minimum? 10 Pittsburgh-area bank branches over the next 18 months, bringing the total number to 25 and taking employment from 140 to around 250, said Jay Ferguson, president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based bank?s Western Pennsylvania region.

A move to allow foreign entrepreneurs entrance into the U.S. if they can secure domestic funding to start a company is gaining support in the Pittsburgh area.

Philadelphia investor Quaker BioVentures is looking for Baltimore health-care technology companies to invest in because it expects to see some valuable technology coming out of local research labs.

The Baltimore Development Corp.?s former chief operating officer joined the development team for Hollander 95 Business Park three months after the city economic development agency agreed to sell the massive property to the company.

K Bank made a profit of $816,000 in fourth quarter 2009.

The Florida Supreme Court has amended procedures for filing foreclosure complaints involving residential property, requiring lenders and lawyers to verify ownership of the note and providing sanctions for false allegations in foreclosure complaints.

When economists size up how Texas fared compared to other parts of the country during the recession, the Lone Star State usually comes out on top.

A number of Dayton-area businesses have already benefitted from Huntington Bank?s new emphasis on lending to small companies.

TAMPA ? Branch Banking & Trust is seeking to foreclose a $25 million loan secured by Fountain Square II, part of the Independence Parkway office complex west of Tampa International Airport.

After years of being more a historic footnote than an active funding source in the Pittsburgh area, the rush is on for new apartment developers to apply for 221D4 loans before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development changes the program?s terms.

In 2008, First Community Bank paid a $2.3 million premium into the FDIC insurance fund, which insures deposits in the nation?s more than 8,000 banks.

When Bank of America Corp. helped craft two commercial real estate bond deals worth more than $6 billion in 2006, one of the largest properties considered for collateral didn?t have the cash flow to meet BofA?s own standards.

Massachusetts credit unions ended 2009 with more than $1 billion in business loans to their members, but some officials say an artificial cap on that type of lending is limiting what they can do to spur the economy.

Venture capital activity nearly ground to a halt in New Mexico last year.

Lyn Doverspike, director of the Pittsburgh office of the U.S. Commercial Service, has a network of resources overseas in 80 countries, in addition to domestic partners that can help a company get started as an exporter.

Lindsey McAlpine is cleaning up a mess, and the process is both frustrating and satisfying.

Lending at commercial banks chartered in St. Louis plummeted almost $2 billion during the last year.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is working on new lease-accounting rules that could have a significant effect on the amount of debt companies must carry on their books.

Albuquerque real estate veteran Doug Vaughan?s bankruptcy and the subsequent investigations into his dealings with commercial real estate investors are further dampening the already battered local real estate market.

Fifth Third Bank economist John Augustine has a gift for making complex information easy to understand.

Adam Martin is ready for an improving spring forecast.

The new owners of the Meridian Corporate Center are preparing to chase some new office tenants. Hard.

The Private Bank of the Peninsula saw a double-digit rise in deposits and assets last year, and came out of 2009 with much less red ink on the books.

Nortel Networks Corp. is considering selling or otherwise trying to cash in on its patent portfolio, which one analyst projected could be worth at least $1 billion.

Jeff Lamb knows well what it takes to bootstrap a company from the idea stage on up ? and he prefers getting help.

The newest big bank to arrive on the scene in Dallas-Fort Worth values honesty, integrity and building relationships with business clients. (BBT)

The sale of the Texas Rangers stalled last week, sources said, after Major League Baseball informed the team?s creditors that there would be delays in responding to the lenders? concerns about the deal.

A federal judge won?t throw out a lawsuit against Restaurant Technologies Inc. (RTI) alleging executives and directors manipulated the company to devalue the founders? investments by as much as $39 million.

A year spent issuing millions of shares to raise money has left Huntington Bancshares Inc. with the some new ? and large ? stockholders.

Last August, fledgling Access 1st Capital Bank of Denton lined up a deal to acquire the good parts of a nearby struggling bank.

With big banks battling tarnished reputations and heightened scrutiny from Washington, D.C., you would think that local institutions would be able to capitalize on consumer dissatisfaction and inspire customers to defect on principle.

If you can?t beat ?em, join ?em.

One of Sacramento?s longest-running real estate sagas is ending, as the state agency that helps first-time homebuyers has decided to move its offices to Sacramento?s newest high-rise ? the Bank of the West Tower.

Randall James, who served as Texas banking commissioner from 1999 to 2008, retired just before the recession took hold that plunged the banking industry into crisis. As commissioner, James was responsible at the time for the regulation and supervision of 330 state-charted banks that controlled about $153 billion in banking assets. Before that, he had worked for the FDIC, Interfirst Bank of Austin and the law firm of Bracewell and Patterson. James, who lives in Austin, now operates his own bank consulting firm, Randall S. James & Associates Inc. Copy editor Debbie Bolles asked James about lessons from the financial meltdown, causes and his forecast for the future of Texas? banking industry. His responses are edited for length and style.

A Grove City investor has added the former Trader Bud?s auto showroom at 4000 W. Broad St. in Columbus to two properties he picked up near the former Delphi Automotive Systems plant that could become the site of a $400 million casino.

Wells Fargo is adding bankers in Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay in a push to double its commercial banking income in Wisconsin over the next five years.

The partners in NuYale Cleaners have purchased the company?s 54,000-square-foot headquarters in River Ridge Commerce Center and plan to spend about $500,000 in the next two years to upgrade the property.

Bethel House LLC has secured the investment backing of developer Max Cole for its $5.7 million project to build four new senior living facilities in east and west Wichita.

The parent company of Guaranty Bank owes $53.1 million to M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank for defaulting on a loan that funded a real estate investment trust.

Finance may be all about the numbers, but over the last 15 years, more and more financial planners aren?t starting with spreadsheets. Instead, they are delving into their clients? emotions, values and hidden goals in a process that has become known as ?life planning.?

When Dion Padilla was a trainee at Merrill Lynch in San Antonio in 2001, Larry Green, a senior financial advisor assigned to be his mentor, gave him a piece of advice he never forgot. ?He said, ?Find a niche and just work the heck out of it,?? Padilla recalls. ??Become an expert for that market and just keep plugging away. After some time it will pay off.??

American Savings Bank?s new residential mortgage division recently hired 16 people from MetLife Home Loans as part of its goal of boosting the bank?s share of the mortgage market.

Profit, loss, revenues and dividends may be music to your ears, but the terms are downright befuddling to an elementary school kid. Unless, of course, you apply the financial principles to something that really matters to them... like, say, making their own money. That?s what Sara Brouillard, project manager with The CE Group Inc., and her colleagues are hoping to do with San Antonio?s first ever Lemonade Day. The project is part of a nationwide effort to help kids create a lemonade business and sell their thirst-quenching products on May 2.

Robert Reynolds has big dreams of growing his business and bringing new jobs to Central Florida, but one hurdle always stands in the way: Finding capital.