TowneBank in Suffolk, Va., announced that its president will retire at the end of this year. The $16.9 billion-asset bank said in a press release that Brad Schwartz will also retire as chief operating officer on Dec. 31. He plans to step down from the board when his term expires in 2023. Billy Foster will succeed Schwartz as president. Foster is also set to become CEO when J. Morgan Davis

OceanFirst Financial in Red Bank, N.J., has boosted its stake in a specialty commercial equipment finance company. The $12.7 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it invested $2.8 million in Auxilior Capital Partners as part of a new round of finance by the lender. OceanFirst had already invested $10 million in Auxilior in 2021, gaining a minority, noncontrolling stake. OceanFirst said in the filing that the new financing

State Street in Boston and Brown Brothers Harriman have agreed to terminate a deal where State Street would have acquired BBH’s investor services business. The $300 billion-asset State Street disclosed in a regulatory filing that the purchase agreement did not allow for a contractual penalty by either party. BBH, in a separate release, said the deal was terminated because State Street was unable to secure the necessary regulatory approvals. The

Central Bank of St. Louis will have a new president. The $2.3 billion-asset unit of Central Bancompany announced that Dan Kleffner will take on the role on Jan. 1, according to the St. Louis Business Journal. Kleffner, the bank’s executive vice president of commercial lending, will succeed Dan Stephen. Stephen became the bank’s president in 2021. The bank also said that Jim Lewis will be promoted to oversee its four

Totem, a challenger bank in Tulsa, Okla., that plans to offer banking services to Native Americans, has raised $2.2 million of preseed funding. Totem said in a press release that it will use the funds to hire personnel and develop an app. Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, a Canadian firm that invests in indigenous social enterprises, led the funding round. Other investors included the Alloy Alchemist Fund, Candide Group, Debut Capital

First Reliance Bancshares in Florence, S.C., said that its chief operating officer is leaving to become CEO of a nonbank financial services company. The $946 million-asset company said in a press release that Robert Dozier is, effective Dec. 31. First Reliance did not name the nonbank that hired Dozier. First Reliance said there are no plans to hire a replacement, adding that its existing management team will perform the duties

Integro Bank in Phoenix is now an approved lender for the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) program. The $26.6 million-asset de novo said in a press release that it already has a six-person SBA team in place. The group, which can also make 504 loans, has the ability to lend up to $300 million. "We are excited to provide small businesses with loans to fund growth, business expansion and real estate

Silvergate Capital in La Jolla, Calif., said its exposure to BlockFi, the latest crypto-focused company to seek bankruptcy protection, is limited to a deposit relationship. The $15.5 billion-asset company said in a press release that it holds less than $20 million of deposits for BlockFi, as of Nov. 28. Silvergate said that BlockFi is not a custodian for its bitcoin-collateralized SEN leverage loans, which continue to “perform as expected with