Strategic Insights into Banking & Fintech

Amalgamated in NY pulls application to buy similarly named bank

Amalgamated Financial in New York has called off its planned purchase of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago. The $6.9 billion-asset Amalgamated Financial in New York had agreed in September to buy Amalgamated Bank for $98.1 million in cash. Chicago’s Amalgamated has $1 billion of assets.  The New York bank said in a press release Friday that […]

Lynn Fuller to retire as Heartland’s executive chairman

Lynn Fuller, a former CEO of Heartland Financial USA, is retiring as the Dubuque, Iowa, company’s executive operating chairman.  The $19.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday that Fuller, 72, will step down at its 2022 annual meeting. He will remain on Heartland’s board; his current three-year term is set to end in […]

Hanover Bancorp in NY files doc for IPO

Hanover Bancorp in Mineola, N.Y., is setting the stage for an initial public offering.  The $1.5 billion-asset company filed a shelf registration on Wednesday for the proposed IPO. The filing did not provide a timeline or an estimate of how capital would be raised. Stephens and Piper Sandler would underwrite the offering.  Hanover said “substantially […]

Cadence pledges $20.7B in community investment

Cadence Bank in Houston has committed $20.7 billion to low- and moderate-income communities as part of the five-year community benefits plan.  Cadence, which merged with BancorpSouth in Tupelo, Miss., last fall to create a $50 billion-asset bank, said in a press release Thursday that it worked on the plan with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.  […]

East Cambridge Savings to buy Patriot Community

The mutual holding company of East Cambridge Savings Bank in Massachusetts has agreed to buy Patriot Community Bank in Woburn, Mass.  The $1.3 billion-asset 1854 Bancorp said in a press release Friday that it will pay $15.75 a share for the $208 million-asset Patriot Community. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.  […]

Popular buying its digital bank, applications from Evertec

Popular Inc. in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has agreed to buy its customer experience and key client-facing applications from Evertec. The $75 billion-asset Popular disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will pay $197 million for the assets by lowering its stake in Evertec from about 16% to 10.5%.  The acquisition includes the Mi […]

Professional Holding in Fla. makes sudden CEO swap

Professional Holding in Coral Gables, Fla., has made an abrupt change in leadership. The $2.7 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that Abel Iglesias has been elected CEO, effective immediately. Iglesias, who joined Professional in 2013, has been its bank’s president since 2016. Iglesias succeeded Daniel Sheehan, who parted ways with Professional “by […]

Origin in La. strengthens Dallas ops with acquisition

Origin Bancorp in Ruston, La., has agreed to buy BT Holdings in Quitman, Texas.  The $7.9 billion-asset Origin said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $313.5 million in stock for the $2 billion-asset parent of BTH Bank. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2022, priced BT […]

Texas Capital expands HBCU certificate program

Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas has expanded its commercial lending certificate program for historically black colleges and universities to include Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas.  The $34.7 billion-asset Texas Capital, through a partnership with the American Bankers Association, already offers the certificate at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. The program was launched […]

Ex-FDIC innovation chief: Agencies ill-equipped for tech challenges

The former chief innovation officer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. delivered a stinging criticism of federal banking agencies days after leaving his post. Sultan Meghji, who resigned from the FDIC on Feb. 18, wrote in an op-ed for Bloomberg that he “found barriers to innovation” at virtually every agency he worked with. He collaborated […]

SoFi to buy cloud-based banking platform for $1.1 billion

SoFi Technologies in San Francisco has agreed to buy Technisys, a cloud-based, digital banking platform. SoFi said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay about $1.1 billion in stock for Miami-based Technisys. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.  “Technisys has built an attractive, fast-growth business with a unique and […]

Auburn National selling land near HQ for $4.3 million

Auburn National Bancorp. in Auburn, Ala., has agreed to sell land next to its corporate headquarters.  The $1.1 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it will part with 0.85 acres of land for nearly $4.3 million. The company said it expects the sale to be accretive to its earnings by about 70 […]

Five Star Bank entering Baltimore, Washington markets

Financial Institutions in Warsaw, N.Y., is entering the Baltimore and Washington markets after hiring a team of commercial lenders from Howard Bank.  The $5 billion-asset parent of Five Star Bank said in a press release Tuesday that it hired John Mangan as its Mid-Atlantic president. He previously served as senior vice president and team lead […]

RBB CEO takes leave as company conducts probe

RBB Bancorp in Los Angeles is conducting a probe tied to its longtime president and CEO.  The $4.2 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that Alan Thian had taken a leave of absence, effective immediately, pending an internal investigation being conducted by a special committee of its board.  The company did not disclose […]

Georgia’s Own Credit Union lines up bank acquisition

Georgia’s Own Credit Union in Atlanta has agreed to buy Vinings Bank in Smyrna, Ga.  The $3.4 billion-asset Georgia’s Own said in a press release Monday that it will keep all of the $653 million-asset Vinings’ employees. Georgia’s Own, which bought State Bank of Georgia in 2018, did not disclose the price it will pay.  […]

M&T, People’s United extend merger deadline

M&T Bank in Buffalo, N.Y., and People’s United Financial in Bridgeport, Conn., have extended the deadline for their merger agreement by more than three months.  The $143 billion-asset M&T and the $60 billion-asset People’s United said in a press release Friday that the end date was moved from Feb. 21 to June 1.  While the […]

Solera in Colorado parts ways with another CEO

Solera National Bancorp in Lakewood, Colo., is again looking for a new leader.  The $651million-asset company said in a press release Friday that Kreighton Reed had resigned as its president and CEO, effective Jan. 24. Peter Lindquist, Solera’s chief credit officer, resigned on Dec. 10. “We thank Kreighton and Peter for their many contributions to […]

Fintech-focused MVB to unveil new three-year plan

MVB Financial in Fairmont, W.Va., is set to discuss its next three-year plan.  The $2.8 billion-asset company said in a press release that the plan, called MVB F1, will debut at an investor day in Las Vegas set to take place on March 14-15.  The fintech-focused MVB recently completed its last three-year plan. Its 2021 […]

Capitol Federal reportedly prepping core system upgrade

Capitol Federal Financial in Topeka, Kan., is set up upgrade its core back-office system aa it nears $10 billion of assets. The $9.6 billion-asset company plans to complete the conversion in September 2023, Andrew Liesch, an analyst at Piper Sandler, wrote in a note to clients following meetings with top executives. “This new core should […]

Middlefield in Ohio selects insider as next CEO

Middlefield Banc in Middlefield, Ohio, will have a new CEO in a few weeks.  The $1.3 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that James Heslop II, its chief operating officer, will also become its president on April 1. He will succeed Thomas Caldwell, who is retiring. Caldwell will also retire from Middlefield’s board. […]

Truist agrees to buy title insurance company

Truist Financial in Charlotte, N.C., has agreed to buy Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, a title insurance company in New York. The $517 billion-asset Truist said in a press release that it will integrate its existing unit, BridgeTrust Title, into the Kensington Vanguard platform. Truist did not disclose the price it will pay.  The acquisition is […]

Zions to buy three Nevada branches from RBC

Zions Bancorp. in Salt Lake City has agreed to buy three branches in northern Nevada from Royal Bank of Canada. The $65 billion-asset Zions said in a press release that its Nevada State Bank division will gain locations in Reno, Carson City and Minden. Royal Bank of Canada inherited the branches from its 2015 acquisition […]

Sterling in Mich. to sell hotel-related CRE loans

The turnaround story at Sterling Bancorp in Southfield, Mich., continues.  The $3.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it has agreed to sell a pool of commercial real estate loans to an unnamed buyer. The pool includes 21 loans with an aggregate outstanding balance of $56.8 million.  The loans, which are primarily secured […]

Peoples in Ohio to buy equipment leasing firm

Peoples Bancorp in Marietta, Ohio, has agreed to buy Vantage Financial, a nationwide provider of equipment financing.  The $7.1 billion-asset Peoples said in a press release Wednesday that it will pay $54 million in cash for the Excelsior, Minn., lender. Peoples will also repay about $21 million of recourse debt on behalf of Vantage. The […]

Webster to buy cloud-based HSA platform

Webster Financial in Stamford, Conn., has agreed to buy Bend Financial, a cloud-based platform tied to health savings accounts.  The $65 billion-asset Webster said in a press release Wednesday that it plans to complete the acquisition by the end of March. Webster did not disclose the price it will pay for the Boston company, which […]