Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust charter. Co-CEO Arjun Sethi wrote Friday in a blog post that the charter, if approved, would establish Payward National Trust, which would provide fiduciary custody and other services for crypto. “Kraken Financial and what we are building with the OCC are complementary pillars of Payward’s regulated banking

Fidelity Ban Corp. in Independence, Iowa, has agreed to buy Welcome State Bank in Minnesota. The parent of the $2.4 billion-asset BankIowa said in a press release that it expects to buy the $44 million-asset Welcome State later this year. Welcome State also has $38.1 million in deposits. “We will gain access to expanded resources, enhanced products, services, and continued strength as a community-focused bank while maintaining our local presence and leadership,”

NexTier in Butler, Pa., has agreed to buy Riverside Bank of Dublin in Ohio. The $2.9 billion-asset NexTier said in a press release that it expects to buy the $270 million-asset Riverside in the third quarter. The price wasn't disclosed. Travis Sanders, Riverside's president and chief lending officer, will join the NexTier as regional president for Columbus, Ohio. Riverside opened in February 2021. "NexTier has been invested in and partnered

Blaze Credit Union in Minneapolis has agreed to buy a branch from Luminate Bank in Falcon Heights, Minn. The $4.8 billion-asset credit union said in a press release that it will also obtain $25 million of deposits when it buys the Claremont, Minn., branch. The deal is expected to close in early October. “We are excited about bringing the Blaze way of banking to Claremont and the surrounding area. Our

C&F Financial in Toano, Va., used the sale of its interest in an insurance agency to sell underperforming securities. The company said in a press release that it will record an $8.3 million pretax gain from selling its stake in Bearing Insurance Group. C&F then sold $72.6 million in securities at a $7.1 million pretax loss. Proceeds were used to buy $67.8 million of higher-yielding securities. It should take about three

Spring Labs in Marina Del Rey, Calif., raised $5 million in a funding round led by BankTech Ventures and Haymaker Ventures. The fintech is building an agentic AI platform to help regulated financial institutions with compliance and operational workflows. "Financial institutions are facing a structural challenge: compliance workloads are growing faster than teams can scale," John Sun, Spring Labs' co-founder and CEO, said in the release. "Spring Labs is building AI agents

A former president and CEO of First National Bank of Lindsay pleaded guilty to a single count of bank fraud. The Oklahoma bank failed in October 2024 and was sold to First Bank & Trust in Duncan, Okla. Danny Seibel, who was fired as the bank's CEO a month before it failed, was indicted last December. He was accused of making loans to friends and neighbors without seeking repayment. Seibel

Tri-County Bancorp in Brown City, Mich., has agreed to buy Mayville Financial in Mayville, Mich. The parent of the $639 million-asset Tri-County Bank said in a press release that it expects to close the purchase of the $97 million-asset Mayville State Bank in the fourth quarter. The price wasn't disclosed. "We see in Mayville State Bank a like-minded organization with the same commitment to stellar customer service that is at