The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Small business lending is showing small signs of growth, according to data compiled by the government.

The total amount of small business loans outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter came to $586 billion, up from $584 billion in the third quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That was the first quarterly gain in small business lending since the FDIC began tracking loans on a quarterly basis at the start of 2010. The FDIC is a government agency that insures bank deposits and oversees financial companies.

First Citizens Bancshares reported after the market closed today that its net come increased 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

The Raleigh-based parent of First Citizens Bank had net income of $30.1 million, or $2.97 per share. A year ago its net income totaled $29.6 million.

For the full year, the bank had net income of $195 million, or $18.80 per share, compared to $193 million, or $18.50 per share, in 2010.

The bank has boosted its results in recent quarters through the acquisition of six failed lenders that were taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank reported a $150.4 million gain on FDIC acquisitions in 2011.

First Citizens has 435 branches nationwide. The bank had $20.88 billion in assets as of Dec. 31.

The bank's stock closed today up $3.07 at $168.96. Shares are down 3 percent this year.

Milestone Asset Resolution Company, the California firm that took over the deed to much of the Amberly development in Cary last week, actually purchased the loans on the property last summer.

The assets were sold to Milestone on June 4, 2010 as part of a $1.4 billion loan sale between the Federal Deposit Insurance and Barclays, said Greg Hernandez, a spokesman for the FDIC in Washington.

Earlier this week, an official with Milestone declined to comment on the Amberly property's future.

The deed to much of the 1,100-acre community in northwest Cary was transferred to Milestone last week in a transaction valued at $19.2 million.

L.M. Sandler & Sons of Virginia Beach, Va., transferred the deed to avoid foreclosure, according to Wake County property records.

Sandler's lender on the portion of the project, Cleveland-based AmTrust Bank, collapsed in late 2009, and the assets were taken over by the FDIC.

First Citizens Bank orchestrated a deal with federal regulators to take over a failed Colorado bank with eight branches.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced late Friday that it closed United Western Bank, which had about $2.05 billion in assets. Its branches in Denver, Boulder and other Colorado cities will reopen on Monday morning under the First Citizens name.

It's the first FDIC-brokered takeover for Raleigh-based First Citizens in nearly a year. In 2009 and early 2010, First Citizens bought four failed banks through the FDIC, including in California and Florida.

Federal regulators closed the Bank of Asheville this afternoon, marking the first bank failure in North Carolina since 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Bank of Asheville, which has five branches and $195.1 million in assets. The FDIC also orchestrated a deal to transfer the assets to First Bank, a lender based in Troy, N.C., with 92 branches.

The Bank of Asheville branches will reopen Monday under the First Bank name.

The FDIC also seized CommunitySouth Bank and Trust, based in Easley, S.C., with $440.6 million in assets. That brings the number of closures nationwide this year to five, following 157 last year.

One of the state's top banking regulators is leaving to run a new consumer protection unit of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Washington.

Mark Pearce became N.C.'s chief deputy commissioner of banks in 2009. Next month, he will become director of the FDIC's Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection, which will help carry out new responsibilities under the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial reform act.

Pearce developed and managed the N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Project for the N.C. bank commissioner's office. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, Pearce previously worked for more than 10 years at the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham.

"I am very pleased to have Mark Pearce join the FDIC," chairwoman Sheila Bair said in a statement. "He brings a wealth of experience in financial sector supervision at the state level with a strong focus on consumer protection. He also is a proven manager and leader having held leadership positions in the public and nonprofit sectors."

Capital Bank disclosed that it expects to receive orders from state and federal banking regulators to clean up its finances.

If issued a so-called Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, from the N.C. Banking Commission and FDIC, the Raleigh-based bank would be required to improve its liquidity, reduce its real-estate loans, strengthen its loan guidelines and take other steps to improve its financial health.

The disclosure raises questions about Capital's business. It also throws up another obstacle as the bank seeks to raise millions of dollars by selling more of its stock on Wall Street.

Durham native and former Wachovia CEO Robert Steel told a panel probing the Charlotte bank's near-collapes in 2008 that he was ordered by the FDIC to sell the company to avoid a banking system meltdown, Bloomberg News reports.

FDIC head Sheila Bair informed Steel on Sept. 28, 2008, that “Wachovia’s situation posed a systemic risk” and that he should begin talks with Citigroup, Steel wrote in testimony prepared for today’s hearing before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Citigroup then made an offer supported by the FDIC, only to be trumped within days when Wells Fargo bid more for Wachovia without U.S. aid.

The hearings in Washington are examining events during the financial crisis and the government’s decision to salvage firms such as Wachovia and American International Group, while leaving others such as Lehman Brothers Holdings to collapse. Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld is scheduled to testify today, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Bair are slated to speak tomorrow, Bloomberg reports.

“The government had deemed Wachovia too big to fail; Lehman fell into a different bucket and we have lots of questions why,” said Tucker Warren, a spokesman for the commission.

Steel, the former U.S. Treasury Department and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, was brought in to lead Wachovia in 2008 as the lender struggled to recover from the aftermath of its $24 billion purchase of Golden West Financial.

Steel grew up within walking distance of Duke's East Campus, and later attended his parents' alma mater. He has kept close tied to Duke and was chairman of the university's board of trustees during the lacrosse scandal in 2006.

Steel is now the deputy mayor for economic development for New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Read the full Bloomberg report on today's hearing here.

First Citizens Bank is expanding in South Florida by buying a failed lender, in another deal brokered by federal banking regulators.

Raleigh-based First Citizens will buy Sun American Bank, a Boca Raton, Fla., lender with 12 branches. It's First Citizens' fourth deal during the past eight months orchestrated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Co.

First Citizens is using its financial stability to expand during the economic downturn, especially in regions hit hard by rising unemployment and tumbling real-estate prices. The bank previously acquired banks in Los Angeles, the Puget Sound region of Washington state and another in southern California.

The Sun American branches in Miami, Delray Beach and other Florida cities will reopen Monday under the First Citizens name. Sun American had assets of $535.7 million.

"South Florida is a great market for our company, especially with our focus on individuals, small to mid-sized businesses and the medical community," said First Citizens CEO Frank B. Holding Jr., in a prepared statement.

The FDIC has now seized 23 failed banks in the U.S. this year, following 140 in 2009.

First Citizens Bank late Friday agreed to acquire a struggling Los Angeles bank with more than $2 billion in assets and eight branches.

It was First Citizens' third deal in the past six months brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Raleigh-based First Citizens is using its financial stability to expand during the economic downturn, especially on the West Coast, which has been hit hard by rising unemployment and tumbling real-estate prices.

On Monday, the First Regional Bank offices in Southern California will open under the First Citizens name. The FDIC typically seizes failed banks late on Fridays, so that officials can spend the weekend converting the branches with minimal disruption for customers.

“Today’s agreement is a perfect match for our company’s strength in serving business customers,” said First Citizens CEO Frank B. Holding Jr., in a prepared statement. “It expands our presence in the greater Los Angeles area, and it allows us to take advantage of our longstanding experience as one of the nation’s top financial service providers for businesses and professionals.”