Organizers are looking to form a de novo bank in Ocala, Fla. A group filed an application for deposit insurance with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for Gala Bank. A public notice sent to the Ocala StarBanner lists 13 organizers: Dennis Baxley, Larry Cheshire, Digvijay Gaekwad, William Gaston III, Roger McKellar, Matthew Gray, Richelle Pace, Himanshubhai Patel, Paresh Patel, Ramabhadran Vasudeven, Carl Walls, Thomas Williams and Tommy Word. The legal

Western Alliance Bancorp. in Phoenix said that deposit balances have stabilized in the past two weeks. The $65 billion-asset company said in a press release that it had “elevated net deposit outflows” in the wake of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Most of those outflows came from its technology and innovation and settlement services groups. Though it added $900 million of deposits between March 20 and

NuMark Credit Union in Joliet, Ill., has agreed to buy Pioneer State Bank in Earlville, Ill. The $637 million-asset NuMark said in a press release that it will buy substantially all of the $122 million-asset bank’s assets and liabilities from NBE Bancshares in a cash transaction. The price wasn’t disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. “It is clear to us that our organizations share a

Webster Financial in Stamford, Conn., has a new bank president. The $71.3 billion-asset company said in a press release that Luis Massiani had accepted the post. He will remain chief operating officer. Massiani joined Webster following its January merger with Sterling Bancorp, where he was bank president and chief operating officer. Massiani succeeded John Ciulla, who remains Webster’s president and CEO and the bank’s CEO.

The Bankers Helping Bankers Fund has made its first investment, committing funds to RiskScout, a regtech company that specializes in compliance automation. RiskScout said in a press release that it plans to use the funds to accelerate growth, expand its products and invest in partnerships to better serve community banks. The amount of the investment and the fund’s stake in RiskScout were not disclosed. The BHB Fund is managed by Latitude38 Venture

The founder of Frank faces four criminal charges from the Department of Justice tied to claims of “falsely and dramatically inflating” the fintech's client numbers prior to its 2021 sale to JPMorgan Chase for $175 million. The DoJ said in a press release that Charlie Javice was arrested on Monday. The release said Javice, Frank’s CEO, stood to gain more than $45 million from the alleged fraud. Javice was charged

South Plains Financial in Lubbock, Texas, sold its insurance agency to Alliant Insurance Services. The $3.9 billion-asset South Financial said in a press release that it sold Windmark Insurance Agency on April 1. The price wasn’t disclosed. “Windmark has been a terrific business for us since its inception in 1997,” Curtis Griffith, South Plains’ chairman and CEO, said in the release. “That said, we knew we were at the point

Deposits at small and midsize U.S. banks are inching back up. Excluding the nation’s 25 biggest banks, deposits rose roughly $5.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week that ended March 22, according to data collected by the Federal Reserve. That represents a 0.1% increase from the prior week. Deposits had fallen by about 3.7% over the previous two weeks. The Fed data also found that borrowings have