Apr. 29--Old National Corp. is one of the first area banks to have exited the U.S. Treasury's Capital Purchase Program.

The Evansville, Ind.-based company, which has a branch office in Danville, rebought all the $100 million in preferred stock it sold to the Treasury as part of the program.

On April 20, the company said it intends to rebuy a warrant to buy up to 813,000 shares of the company's common stock. That's the last step in ending participation in the Capital Purchase Program.

Most of the larger banks in East Central Illinois chose to take part in the program among them Chase, Regions Bank, First Midwest Bank, Centrue Bank, Busey Bank and National City, which is part of PNC Financial.

The parent companies of Commerce Bank and First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust elected not to take part, saying they had plenty of capital.

Old National said that, with the help of an outside firm, it performed its own stress test and concluded it's "well-positioned to withstand current and future economic challenges." During the past two weeks, many area banks whose stocks are publicly traded released first-quarter earnings. Most banks reported net profits, rather than net losses but in most cases, the profits weren't as great as they were a year ago. Many banks took larger provisions for loan losses.

Here's a brief summary:

--JPMorganChase & Co.

The New York-based parent company of Chase Bank reported first-quarter net income of $2.1 billion on assets of $2.07 trillion. Its provisions for credit losses were nearly double that of a year ago. But it's a much larger company than a year ago, having absorbed Washington Mutual.

--PNC Financial

National City's Pittsburgh-based parent reported net income of $530 million on assets of $286 billion. It said the National City acquisition "is exceeding expectations" and will add to company earnings for both the first quarter and full year. Thanks to the acquisition, first-quarter net income was higher than it was a year ago. Capital ratios are rising, but "credit quality deterioration continued," reflecting economic weakening. The bank has reduced its dividend.

--Regions Financial

The Birmingham, Ala.-based parent of Regions Bank reported net income of $77 million on assets of $142 billion but after preferred dividend expense, only $26 million of that was available to common shareholders.