Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida in Stuart has combined the roles of chairman and CEO. The $9.7 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that Chuck Shaffer, its president and CEO, had succeed Dennis Hudson III as chairman. Hudson, who preceded Shaffer as CEO, will remain on Seacoast’s board. “We thank Denny for his outstanding leadership over more than four decades,” Shaffer said in the release. “We are pleased our board

OceanFirst Financial in Red Bank, N.J., has agreed to buy a title insurance agency. The $11.7 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it will acquire a majority interest in Trident Abstract Title Agency. The deal is expected to close on March 1. The deal gives OceanFirst the option to buy 100% of the agency. OceanFirst did not disclose the price it will pay. The acquisition “is a natural step for

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has given conditional approval for a proposed bank in Bloomington, Minn. Organizers of EntreBank must raise $32 million before opening the bank, according to the FDIC’sJan. 27 approval.Organizers applied with the FDIC for deposit insurance in August. They changed the proposed bank’s name from Brava Bank to EntreBank. The bank would operate as a unit of Entrepreneurs Bancshares. The principal shareholder would be the Entrepreneurs Bancshares Revocable

Kentucky First Federal Bancorp in Frankfort has added a former CEO of its bank to its board. The $337 million-asset parent of First Federal Savings and Loan of Hazard said in a press release Wednesday that Lou Ella Farler is its newest director. Farler was president and CEO of First Federal from 2012 to 2018, when she retired. She has been on the bank’s board since 2011. Farler’s “wise counsel and guidance, the

BAWAG Group in Vienna, Austria, has agreed to buy Peak Bancorp in McCall, Idaho. The $555 million-asset parent of Idaho First Bank said in a press release Wednesday that BAWAG is paying $65 million.  BAWAG, which offer financial services in Europe through various brands and delivery channels, will work with the bank’s existing leadership team continue expanding in Idaho and adjacent markets. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to join BAWAG

Silvergate Capital in La Jolla, Calif., has acquired intellectual property and other technology assets tied to running a blockchain-based payment network from the Diem Group. Silvergate said in a press release Monday that it paid $182 million in cash and stock. The assets Silvergate bought included development, deployment and operations infrastructure, along with the tools for running a blockchain-based payment network.The deal includes proprietary software elements critical to running a

A group with ties to Vernon Hill has suggested replacing him as CEO of Republic First Bancorp in Philadelphia. George Norcross III, Gregory Braca and Phillip Norcross suggested in a Jan. 31 letter to the $5.4 billion-asset company’s board that it should consider hiring Braca to replace Hill.  Braca once served as president and CEO of TD Bank, which bought Commerce Bank in 2007 after Hill was removed as that bank’s

Western Alliance Bancorp in Phoenix has acquired a fintech that offers a digital payments platform for the class-action legal industry. The $50 billion-asset Western Alliance said in a press release that it had bought Digital Settlement Technologies in Los Angeles, which operates as Digital Disbursements. Western Alliance did not disclose the price it paid. Digital Disbursements, formed in 2019, allows claimants to choose how they would like to receive payments. The deal “furthers