The Federal Reserve has fined Popular Bank $2.3 million for deficiencies processing six Paycheck Protection Program loans. The Fed said in a press release that the New York unit of the $70.7 billion-asset Popular processed the PPP loans, totaling $1.1 million, “despite having detected that the loan applications contained significant indications of potential fraud.” Popular was also cited for failing to report the potential fraud in a timely manner.

The White House official who oversaw the Paycheck Protection Program has been hired to serve as the first CEO of the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) Association. The association said in a press release that Bill Briggs had accepted the post. He previously served as the acting associate administrator in the Small Business Administration Office of Capital Access where he was in charge of the PPP. The PPP “was the watershed moment for bank

North Shore Bank in Brookfield, Wis., has a new CEO with a familiar name. The $2.6 billion-asset bank said in a press release that Jay McKenna had succeeded his father, Jim McKenna. The younger McKenna, the bank’s president and chief operating officer, will retain his title as president, while his father will remain the bank’s chairman. “Thanks to our incredible employees, we are stronger than ever, and we look forward

Northwest Bancshares in Columbus, Ohio, plans to close eight branches and lay off 12% of its staff. The $14.1 billion-asset company said in a press release that the closures will take place in April. “In-branch activity continues to slow as customers prefer to transact through online and mobile channels,” Louis Torchio, the company’s president and CEO, said in the release. “In addition, we have realigned our workforce to correspond with

Citizens Holding in Philadelphia, Miss., has lined up its next bank CEO. The $1.4 billion-asset company said in a press release that Stacy Brantley will take over the role on Feb. 13. He will succeed Greg McKee, who will remain the company’s president and CEO. Brantley previously served as chief banking officer at Morris Bank of Georgia. Chartwell Partners handled the search. “We conducted a national search for our next

Bank of Marin Bancorp in Novato, Calif., plans to close four branches. The $4.1 billion-asset company said in a press release that it will shutter branches in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Tiburon and Buckhorn. Two closures are due to overlap created by the company’s purchase of American River Bank. The branches, which represent 13% of Bank of Marin’s total network, are set to close in March. Bank of Marin said it

Carver Bancorp in New York has been freed from an enforcement action. The $756 million-asset company disclosed in a press release that the Office of Comptroller of the Currency terminated a formal agreement against its bank. The agreement had been in place since May 2016. Carver said the agreement’s individual minimum capital ratio – which requires the bank to maintain a 9% Tier 1 leverage ratio and and 12% total risk-based capital ratio –

Triumph Financial in Dallas has added a banking veteran to its board. The $5.6 billion-asset company said in a press release that it appointed Davis Deadman, its former chief lending officer, to its board. He also serves on the board of Triumph’s bank. Davis was CEO of NexBank from 2004 to 2010. Before that, he was a partner at Highland Capital Management. “As we have undertaken the process to align