Veteran banker George Jones passed away on Friday.Jones, 77, had been dealing with a “long illness,” according to an obituary in the Dallas Morning News. Jones helped found Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas in 1998, serving as its CEO from 2008 to 2013. He became CEO of CrossFirst Bancshares in Leawood, Kan., in May 2018 before retiring last June. He was succeeded by Mike Maddox, who had been the president and CEO

Customers Bancorp in Wyomissing, Pa., is planning to launch a closed-loop real-time payments platform. The $18.8 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that its bank will work with Tassat, a company that provides blockchain technologies for digital payments, to create the platform. Customers said the effort should enhance payments functionality for its business clients while bringing in more low-cost core deposits. The platform should benefit customers that deal

First Community in Lexington, S.C., has added a veteran banker to its board. The $1.5 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it had recruited Jan Hollar to become one of its directors.Hollar recently served as interim CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. She has 40 years of experience in banking, most recently serving as CEO of HCSB Financial and unit Horry County State Bank. Under her

Enterprise Financial Services in Clayton, Mo., had an advocate when it decided to pursue First Choice Bancorp in Cerritos, Calif., earlier this year. The $10.2 billion-asset Enterprise agreed on April 26 to buy the $2.5 billion-asset First Choice for $398 million in cash and stock. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. The conversations began on Jan. 19, when Richard Sanborn introduced Jim Lally, Enterprise’s CEO, and

Glacier Bancorp in Kalispell, Mont., has agreed to buy Altabancorp in American Fork, Utah. The $19.8 billion-asset Glacier said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $933.5 million in stock for the $3.5 billion-asset parent of Altabank. The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, priced Altabancorp at 290.1% of its tangible book value, or one of the highest premiums for a bank in 2021. Altabancorp has

Legacy Bank of Florida in Boca Raton delayed plans to sell itself for nearly a year as it responded to borrowers' needs created by the coronavirus pandemic. The $533 million-asset bank agreed to be sold to Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida in Stuart in March for $102 million. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Legacy’s investment bank first approached the $8.3 billion-asset Seacoast to discuss a potential

Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Boston has created a three-year plan to improve investor returns. The $12.8 billion-asset company, in a presentation shared on Tuesday, said it will continue to close branches, centralize more operations and take other steps to become more efficient. The moves should increase return on tangible common equity by 680 to 880 basis points, to 10% to 12%, while boosting return on assets by 76 to 81 basis

Several bank analysts have changed jobs in recent weeks.Matthew Kelley shared on his LinkedIn profile that he had been hired as a director at JAM FINTOP Bank Network, a collaboration between Jacobs Asset Management and FINTOP Capital. Kelley recently served as a managing director and bank analyst at Stephens. Kelley will manage the network of community banks that participate in projects with JAM FINTOP.Jacobs and FINTOP recently created JAM FINTOP