Washington Trust Bancorp in Westerly, R.I., has reached a settlement with the Justice Department over claims its bank violated fair lending laws. The $7 billion-asset company said in a press release that the settlement addressed violations that allegedly took place between 2016 and 2021. Washington Trust denied the allegations, stating that it entered into the settlement to “avoid the expense and distraction of potential ligation.” Washington Trust agreed to provide

MidWestOne Financial Group in Iowa City has agreed to buy Denver Bankshares a day after agreeing to sell its Florida operations. The $6.5 billion-asset company said in a press release that it will pay $32.6 million in cash for the parent of the $271.5 million-asset Bank of Denver. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter, priced Denver Bankshares at 173% of its tangible book value. Bank

River Financial in Prattville, Ala., raised $32.9 million through a private placement of common stock. The $3.1 billion-asset company sold shares to 312 investors on Sept. 12, according to a notice of exempt offering of securities. Performance Trust Capital Partners also reported the offering. The pricing and plans for using net proceeds weren’t disclosed. River recently announced plans to expand in Birmingham, Ala.

MidWestOne Financial Group in Iowa City has agreed to sell its Florida operations to DFCU Financial in Dearborn, Mich. The $6.5 billion-asset MidWestOne said in a press release that the $6.4 billion-asset credit union will pay a 7.5% premium, or $11.9 million, for the transfer of $158.8 million of deposits. The sale also includes two branches and $162.2 million of loans. The deal is expected to close in the second

HomeStreet in Seattle rejected an unsolicited offer to buy its Fannie Mae delegated underwriting and servicing (DUS) license. The $9.5 billion-asset company recently received a nonbinding offer to acquire the license, along with its $32 million loan servicing portfolio, for $57 million, Chairman and CEO Mark Mason divulged in a letter to shareholders.   HomeStreet’s board and management “analyzed the DUS purchase proposal and determined that the price proposed was

An investor group is looking to buy First State Bank of Decatur in Michigan. A group led by Gregg Bigger has applied to buy the $54 million-asset bank, according to the Traverse Ticker. They plan to rebrand First State as Grand Traverse State Bank. The group must raise $14.5 million by early November to move forward, the publication said. The goal is to purchase and rebrand First State by late

Dutch neobank bunq BV has applied to open a bank in the U.S. The bank applied with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Thursday for deposit insurance for bung US Bank, which would be based in New York. Bunq, which applied for a U.S. bank license earlier this year, would be regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The application, which wasn’t immediately available, comes two months

Plains State Bank in Humble, Texas, bought a wealth management and tax business. The $780 million-asset bank said in a press release that it bought Core+ Financial Strategies and Core+ Tax Strategies. The pricing wasn’t disclosed. "The principals at Core+ have been helping clients with investment planning for many years," Lori Hilman, Plains State’s president and chief operating officer, said in the release. "It just made sense that this was