Community Bank and Trust - West Georgia in LaGrange has entered into a cease-and-desist order with the Federal Reserve. The C&D order instructs the $288 million-asset bank to improve board oversight, strengthen its senior management, and consider raising capital. The bank, which has been dealing with credit-quality issues, formed Phoenix Lender Services, a government-guaranteed lending division, last year. The bank's ratio of nonperforming assets to total loans topped 10% at

Southern First Bancshares in Greenville, S.C., plans to raise up to $65.2 million through a public offering of common stock. The company said in a press release that it plans to sell nearly 1.1 million shares of stock at $54 each. Another 157,500 shares could be sold if there is enough demand. The proceeds of the offering will be used for a range of purposes that could include supporting organic

OpenAI acquired personal finance fintech Hiro. Hiro announced the sale on its website. The price wasn't disclosed. The Hiro application will shut down on April 20. Users can export data through settings until May 13. “For decades, personalized financial guidance has been too expensive, too generic, or too hard to access. ChatGPT is finally changing that,” Hiro founder Ethan Bloch wrote on LinkedIn.

Organizers of the proposed Private Bank & Trust in Gainesville, Ga., have received conditional approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The group must raise $19 million of capital before the bank can open. Organizers said in the application to form the bank that they were targeting at least $27 million in initial capital. Private Bank is being positioned as a high-touch, relationship-driven institution focused on small businesses, professionals and

Synctera, a banking and payments platform, has acquired Cable, a compliance automation and control-testing company for banks and fintechs. Natasha Vernier, Cable's co-founder and CEO, announced the sale on her company's website. The price wasn't disclosed, "I am incredibly proud of the changes we have kicked off in the banking industry," Vernier wrote. "We’ve built the leading compliance testing platform for banks to test their own controls, and the controls of

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. hired an innovative banker as its chief innovation officer. The agency said in a press release that Trey Maust had taken on the role. Maust recently served as executive chairman of Lewis & Clark Bank and as president and CEO of Bankevo. Benjamin Olson was named director of the FDIC’s division of depositor and consumer protection, while Shawn Khani was named director of the agency's

Points West Community Bank in Windsor, Colo., has agreed to buy State Bank of Downs in Downs, Kan. The $833.8 million-asset Points West applied with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on April 13 to buy the $140.3 million-asset State Bank. The price wasn't disclosed. "We want you to know that the things that matter most aren’t changing. The people you know, the service you trust, and your day-to-day banking will

Nir Zuk, founder of Palo Alto Networks, has applied with the Federal Reserve to buy a majority stake in Liberty Bank in Irvine, Calif. Zuk would become the $442 million-asset bank's largest shareholder if the purchase is approved, according to published reports. The plan is to buy shares held by private equity firms Stone Point Capital and Reverence Capital Partners. Pricing hasn't been disclosed. Betsy and Daniel Cohen are expected