Locality Bank, a de novo planned in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is set to debut on Wednesday.The proposed bank’s digital application will launch on that day, based on a press release announcing that organizers had surpassed the fund-raising goal set by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as part of the agency’s conditional approval. Locality raised $35 million; it was required in November to bring in a minimum of $23 million. Members of

Civista Bancshares in Sandusky, Ohio, has agreed to buy Comunibanc in Napoleon, Ohio. The $3 billion-asset Civista said in a press release Monday that it will pay $50.2 million in cash and stock for the $329 million-asset parent of Henry County Bank. The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, priced Communibanc at 152% of its tangible book value.Comunibanc has seven branches, $276 million of low-cost core deposits

Republic Bancorp in Louisville, Ky., wants Green Dot to pay a $5 million termination fee tied to the termination of asset sale. The $6.2 billion-asset Republic agreed in May to sell its tax refund solutions business to Green Dot. Green Dot first delayed the closing in August, then terminated it in October after failing to secure an approval or non-objection from the Federal Reserve. The Delaware Court of Chancery on Dec. 2

First Guaranty Bancshares in Hammond, La., has hired 13 bankers for its push into Kentucky and West Virginia. The $2.8 billion-asset company said in a press release Monday that it hired Mike Mineer, a former president and CEO of Citizens Deposit Bank and Trust, to serve as its Mideast Market President. The hirings included five bankers in Kentucky and seven in West Virginia. “We are a true community bank; we lend to people,

The group behind a large fintech fund has completed a separate effort to invest in blockchain projects.JAM Special Opportunity Ventures, an affiliate of Jacobs Asset Management, and FINTOP Capital said in a press release Monday that their JAM FINTOP Blockchain fund had raised about $110 million. The fund has more commitments that scale up to $30 million as its nears a $200 million cap.  The fund will initially focus on

A group is looking to form a de novo bank in Texas. Organizers of Texas Traditions Bank applied with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Jan. 3 for deposit insurance. The bank would be based in Fulshear or Katy, just outside of Houston. The bank, which would have a minimum of $35 million of initial capital, would have a second branch in the Webster area, according to the application.A public notice tied

The group behind the proposed Nave Bank in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is planning a digital bank. Organizers said in an application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for deposit insurance that Nava Bank will look “to provide a unique, affordable offering, and value to customers that are presently unsatisfied, underserved or unbanked.” Nave would use “highly scalable and state of the art technology that is purely digital and with

Lana Chan is the latest bank analyst to cross over and join a bank. Chan, who was an equity analyst for BMO Capital Markets for 15 years, revealed on her LinkedIn profilethat she had become a strategic communications and investor relations consultant at Cathay Bank in Los Angeles. Prior to joining BMO, Chan was an analyst at Advest. Other analysts who have accepted banking jobs in the past include Bob Ramsey, who left