First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Miss., joined the growing list of banks repositioning securities during the fourth quarter. The $7.9 billion-asset company said in a press release that it sold $123 million of available-for-sale securities at a pretax loss of $9.7 million. It reinvested $93 million of the proceeds in higher-yielding securities and repaid $30 million of borrowings from the Federal Reserve’s Bank Term Funding Program. The moves are expected to

BankFirst in Manitowoc, Wis., reported a significant increase in net income after the sale of a minority stake in a tech services company offset one-time losses elsewhere. The $4.2 billion-asset company said in a press release that its fourth-quarter profit nearly tripled that of a year earlier, to $34.9 million. The results were largely due to the $38.9 million pretax gain the company received from selling its member interest in

Banks in Michigan, Ohio and New York completed private placements of common stock. Bank Michigan Financial in Brooklyn sold $4.1 million of stock on Jan. 3, according to a regulatory filing. The $119 million-asset bank disclosed that the minimum purchase was $25,000. Grasshopper Bancorp in New York raised $10 million, based on data compiled by Performance Trust Capital Partners. The $689.5 million-asset bank’s private placement took place on Jan. 5.

Amerant Bancorp in Coral Gables, Fla., has agreed to sell $401 million of multifamily loans at a loss. The $9.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it will sell the Houston-based loans to an affiliate of Prime Finance Advisor at a $23 million after-tax loss. The portfolio was classified as held-for-sale on Dec. 31. The portfolio consists of 20 performing commercial real estate loans with an average loan-to-value

FirstSun Capital Bancorp in Denver has agreed to buy HomeStreet in Seattle. The $7.8 billion-asset FirstSun said in a press release that it will pay $286 million in stock for the $9.5 billion-asset HomeStreet. The deal, which is expected to close in mid-2024, priced HomeStreet at 56% of its tangible book value. FirstSun also agreed to raise capital by selling about 2.5 million shares of common stock to Wellington Management.

Ally Financial in Detroit has an interim CEO. The company said in a press release that Douglas Timmerman will take over for Jeffrey Brown on Feb. 1. Timmerman is president of dealer financial services. "Doug's long tenure at Ally and expertise in auto finance is extraordinarily well respected both inside and outside of Ally," Franklin Hobbs, Ally's chairman, said in a press release. "I know he will ensure a seamless

Payment processor Fiserv is trying to become the first company to obtain a merchant acquirer limited purpose bank charter in Georgia. The move would allow Fiserv to authorize, settle and clear payment transactions for merchants. Doing so would let the Brookfield, Wis., company, which typically uses bank partners as part of payment processing, control the entire process. Fiserv expects to complete the process in the first half of this year.

Forward Bank in Marshfield, Wis., has agreed to buy Lake City Federal Bank in Lake City, Minn. The $964 million-asset Forward recently submitted its applications with regulators. It plans to complete its purchase of the $76 million-asset Lake City in the second quarter. The financial terms weren’t disclosed. “Our banks will work closely to ensure that the transition is smooth,” Bill Sennholz, Forward’s CEO, said in the announcement. Forward “is