A group of investors tied to Security Bank & Trust Co. in Glencoe, Minn., has acquired a 6.3% stake in Citizens Community Bancorp in Eau Claire, Wis. The group, in a regulatory filing, said it was open to discussing strategy, governance, board composition, or a potential transaction with the $1.8 billion-asset Citizens Community. Gale Hoese, Security Bank’s CEO, reported owning 450,000 shares, or nearly three-quarters of the investor group’s aggregate

A group with ties to Amerant Bank is planning a new bank in Southern Florida. Organizers of the proposed Glades Bank & Trust applied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on June 2. Th bank would be based in Plantation, Fla., The filing was immediately available. Howard Levine, former chief consumer banking officer at Amerant, and executives from venture capital firm Exuma Capital are linked to the effort. The plan

Security Federal in Aiken, S.C., made some key C-Suite changes. The company said in a press release that J. Chris Verenes will retire as its CEO on July 10. Darrell Rains, the chief financial officer, will retire on the same date. Rains joined the company's board, while Verenes will become vice chairman. “The company and the bank will continue to benefit from the knowledge and experience that Chris and Darrell

NSTS Bancorp in Waukegan, Ill., sold its mortgage business to comply with the terms of its pending sale to Brookfield Bancshares in Brookfield, Ill. The $333.4 billion-asset Brookfield agreed in May to pay $73.7 million in cash for the $266.6 million-asset NSTS in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. NSTS transferred certain assets, including real estate leases, third-party vendor contracts, trademark rights and other IT assets to

First Federal Bank in Lake City, Fla., has agreed to sell its third-party mortgage origination division. The $4.4 billion-asset bank said in a press release that it will sell the division, including QRL Financial, to Mortgage Forward in Chicago, a credit union service organization affiliated with Great Lakes Credit Union. The price wasn't disclosed. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter. The sale “allows our talented and dedicated

Ramp raised $750 million in a Series F fundraising round. The fintech said the funding round valued it at $44 billion. The round included 70,000+ customers, ICONIQ, GIC, Ontario Teachers'​ Pension Plan, and several new investors. "For 2000 years, business was built on two pillars. Today, a third: intelligence," CEO Eric Glyman said in a LinkedIn post. "It’s your least governed cost. It’s also your single greatest opportunity."

CCBank in Pleasant Grove, Utah, created a bank division designed to offer services to fintechs. The bank said in a press release that Quill Bank will launch on June 30. "The fintech space is driven by innovation, but innovation without a solid banking backbone can be a liability," Andrew Cusick, CCBank's chief business development officer, said in the release. "Quill Bank exists because the fintechs we work with deserve a

Organizing groups are pursuing bank charters in Florida and Puerto Rico. A group applied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on May 27 to form Dorado Bank in San Juan, P.R. A separate group submitted an application to the FDIC on June 2 to open Glades Bank and Trust in Plantation, Fla. The applications were not immediately available.