61.   In general, the smaller banks have gotten hit even harder.

62.   Instead, U.S. Bancorp started buying up smaller California banks.

63.   It could also prompt more mergers and acquisitions, particularly among smaller banks.

64.   It also allows smaller local banks to bid for a tiny part of the deposit portion of those packages.

65.   It was designed to help smaller banks, thrifts and credit unions compete against big banks with huge ATM networks.

66.   Its size and diversity will increase the pressure on smaller banks to eat or be eaten in the merger game.

67.   Japanese banks are facing a combination of bad debts, difficulties in raising fresh capital, and the prospect of shouldering losses at smaller banks.

68.   Keeping small-business customers is crucial for smaller banks, which lack scale to compete in the corporate and mass consumer markets.

69.   Large California institutions have rebounded strongly from the recession, but smaller banks have struggled because they are tied to troubled local economies.

70.   Many years later, I became president of a much, much smaller bank.