Bankers Helping Bankers, a program associated with the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, has created a platform to let participants pilot fintech products. Participating banks will help vetted fintechs by beta testing products, providing feedback, influencing product development and assisting with rollout strategies. Banks that pilot products “have potential fintech partnerships at low to no cost for an agreed upon timeline,” Bankers Helping Bankers said in a press release. Banks

Home Federal Bancorp in Shreveport, La., has agreed to buy Northwest Bancshares in Benton, La. The $590.5 million-asset Home said in a press release that it will pay $10.1 million in cash for the $81.7 million-asset parent of First National Bank of Benton. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter. A portion of the purchase price will be based on Northwest’s assets at the end of the

Republic First Bancorp in Philadelphia has reached a truce with a large shareholder. The $5.7 billion-asset company said in a press release that it has secured a cooperation agreement with Driver Management. As part of the agreement, Republic First appointed Peter Bartholow, former chief financial officer and chief operations officer at Texas Capital Bancshares, to its board. Driver agreed to withdraw its notice of intent to nominate director candidates for

Q2 Holdings in Austin, Texas, has acquired Sensibill in Toronto, Canada. Q2 said in a press release that it bought the machine learning platform on Oct. 3. The price wasn’t disclosed. “Delivering differentiated and personalized experiences through the digital channel is a top priority,” Kirk Coleman, Q2’s chief banking officer, said in the release. “Sensibill’s solution enables financial institutions to better understand the spending behaviors of their account holders, positioning

Community Heritage Financial in Middletown, Md., was the target of a cybersecurity attack. The parent of the $873 million-asset Middletown Valley Bank said in a press release that it determined that there was unauthorized access to a portion of its IT system.  The company said it implemented “a series of containment and remediation measures” within hours of detecting the event. Community Heritage said it launched an investigation and engaged legal

Capital One Financial in McLean, Va., has merged its two banks into a single subsidiary. The $435.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it merged Capital One Bank (USA) into Capital One NA. Capital One NA is the surviving entity. Capital One NA had $388.4 billion of assets on June 30, while Capital One Bank had $126.7 billion of assets.

Customers Bancorp in West Reading, Pa., has sold a $500 million portfolio of unsecured consumer installment loans. The $20.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that the loans were sold to an entity managed by a global asset manager with more than $100 billion in historical investment activity. The loans were sold at 99.5% of par value. Customers will continue to act as master servicer for the sold loans.

Taichung Commercial Bank in Taipei, Taiwan, plans to enter the U.S. with the acquisition of American Continental Bancorp in City of Industry, Calif. The $26 billion-asset Taichung Commercial said in a press release that it agreed to pay $82.1 million in cash for the $324 million-asset American Continental. The deal, which is expected to close early in the first quarter, priced the U.S. bank at 183% of its tangible book