Parke Bancorp in Washington Township, N.J., reported a sharp drop in quarterly profit after recognizing a $9.5 million hit tied to cash that went missing from an armored car earlier this year. The $2 billion-asset company said in a press release that third-quarter earnings fell 90% from a year earlier, to $1 million. The decision to recognize a loss from the missing money followed a report from an outside forensic

First Busey in Champaign, Ill., has parted ways with its bank CEO. The $2.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that Robin Elliott had also stepped down as the bank’s president and as chairman and CEO of payments technology subsidiary FirsTech. First Busey said that Elliott will serve in a consultative role until Dec. 31. Van Dukeman, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, succeeded Elliott as the bank’s president

Capitol Federal Financial in Topeka, Kan., sold most of its securities at a large loss in the third quarter – a move that will drop it below a key regulatory threshold. The $10.2 billion-asset company said in a press release that it sold $1.3 billion of securities – 94% of its portfolio – earlier this month. The company incurred a $206 million pretax loss from the sales. Overall, Capitol Federal

High Plains Banking Group in Flagler, Colo., raised nearly $3.7 million through a private placement of common stock. The parent of the $388 million-asset High Plains Bank sold shares on Oct. 19, according to data compiled by Performance Trust Capital Partners. The data did not include the investors, pricing or planned use of proceeds.

Cadence Bank in Tupelo, Miss., has agreed to sell its insurance agency to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. The $48.8 billion-asset bank said in a press release that it will sell Cadence Insurance for $904 million in cash in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. The sale will allow Cadence to take advantage of high valuations for insurance agencies. Cadence plans to reinvest capital into strategic transformation efforts and

Peoples Bancorp in Marietta, Ohio, terminated its pension plan. The $8.9 billion-asset company said in a press release that it settled the remaining benefit obligation of $7.7 million during the third quarter. Peoples said it doesn’t expect any more expenses tied to ending the plan, which had been closed to new entrants since January 2010. Overall profit still rose by 23% from a year earlier, to $31.9 million. Peoples is

Flagship Financial Group in Eden Prairie, Minn., and Security Bancshares in Glencoe, Minn., are planning to merge before buying another bank. The companies, which are under common control, plan to complete their merger by the end of this year, Andy Schornack, Flagship’s CEO, tweeted. Flagship is the parent of the $319 million-asset Flagship Bank, while Security Bancshares is the holding company for the $703 million-asset Security Bank & Trust. Those

SmartFinancial in Knoxville, Tenn., repositioned its securities portfolio during the third quarter. The $4.8 billion-asset company said in a press release that it sold $159.6 million of available-for-sale securities at a $6.8 million pretax loss. It reinvested the proceeds into higher-yielding assets. “We strategically took advantage of a balance sheet optimization opportunity,” Billy Carroll, SmartFinancial’s president and CEO, said in the release. “We felt it prudent to capitalize on the