Home BancShares in Conway, Ark., suffered from a “mini mutiny” of employees in some of the markets it entered through the April acquisition of Happy State Bancshares in Amarillo, Texas. That assessment came from Johnny Allison, Home’s chairman, during the $24.3 billion-asset company’s second-quarter earnings call. “We did not see a very warm welcome,” Allison said during the call. “In hindsight, the moves appeared to be in the works for some time.

American Challenger Development is again looking to sell itself after a plan to merge with Patriot National Bancorp in Stamford, Conn., was called off. The $976 million-asset Patriot National agreed in November to buy American Challenger for $119 million in a deal structured as a reverse subsidiary merger. Patriot had also entered into agreements to sell securities to certain investors to raise at least $875 million of capital. The termination was approved

Organizers of the proposed Bank of Burlington in South Burlington, Vt., have received conditional approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC is requiring the group to raise $33 million before opening the bank. The group said in its December 2021 application for deposit insurance that it planned to raise $24 million to $30 million of initial capital. The bank will largely focus on small businesses with no plans to offer retail

Amerant Bancorp in Coral Gables, Fla., increased its ownership stake in its mortgage company. The $8.2 billion-asset company said in a press release that its stake in Amerant Mortgage increased from 57.4% to 80% after two former principals became full-time bank employees and relinquished their interest in the business. Amerant also contributed $1 million in capital to the unit. Amerant Mortgage, which reduced headcount by 15%, to 67 employees, reached breakeven status

Live Oak Bancshares in Wilmington, N.C., has appointed the CEO of a North Carolina mortgage company to its board. The $8.6 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that Casey Crawford, a co-founder of Movement Mortgage in Charlotte, had become a director. "We are very pleased to welcome Casey to our board of directors,” Chip Mahan, Live Oak’s chairman and CEO, said in the release. “His depth of executive experience, including

First Lena Corp. in Lena, Ill., has agreed to buy First Savanna Savings Bank in Savanna, Ill. First Lena, the parent of the $325 million-asset Citizens State Bank, said in a press release that it expects to buy the $9.8 million-asset First Savanna in the fourth quarter. The price wasn’t disclosed. Citizens will enter the Savanna market in northwestern Illinois when the deal closes. “Our team is dedicated to delivering an exceptional

Signature Bank in New York plans to dial down its lending in coming months. The $116 billion-asset bank expects quarterly loan growth of $1 billion to $3 billion over the rest of this year. It previously projected increasing the size of its loan portfolio by $4 billion to $7 billion. Commercial real estate and fund banking are the areas where Signature plans to tap the brakes, CEO Joe DePaolo said during a

Bank of Montreal has agreed to buy Radicle Group, an environmental strategies company in Calgary.The Canadian bank said in a press release Wednesday that it expects to close the deal by the end of this year. The price was not disclosed. Radicle develops carbon offsets and helps organizations measure and reduce emissions.  The acquisition “supports BMO's climate ambition to be our clients' lead partner in the transition to a net-zero world, and