Beach Bancorp in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., made overtures to more than a dozen credit unions before agreeing to sell to First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Miss.The $6.2 billion-asset First agreed to buy the $620 million-asset Beach in April for $117 million. Months earlier, Beach, through its investment bank, contacted 16 potential credit union buyers as part of its sales process, according to a regulatory filing tied to the pending acquisition. Though seven

Ponce Financial Group in Bronx, N.Y., has reshuffled its executive ranks.The $1.7 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it had hired Sergio Vaccaro as its chief financial officer, effective June 1. Vaccarro previously served as CFO of Private Bank Americas at HSBC. Vaccaro will succeed Frank Perez, who will become Ponce’s chief investor relations officer. “We are grateful to Frank for his leadership in our mutual-to-stock conversion efforts,”

PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh will soon have a new head of retail banking. The $552 billion-asset company said in a press release that Alex Overstrom will take over the post on July 1. He will succeed Karen Larrimer, who is retiring. Larrimer has led retail banking at PNC since July 2016. She has overseen the company’s digital expansion, several rebranding efforts and the creation of solution centers in expansion markets. Overstrom,

BancCentral in Alva, Okla., is selling its only branches in Kansas to Plains Bancshares in Plains, Kan.The parent of the $295 million-asset Plains State Bank will gain two locations in Harper County in a deal expected to close this fall. The price was not disclosed. The branches had $131.7 million of deposits in mid-2021, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Plains bought Bank VI in Salina, Kan., in 2018.

First Financial in Cincinnati is the latest bank to announce plans to address overdraft fees. The $16 billion-asset company said in a press release that it will take a series of steps, beginning on June 1, to eliminate or reduce fees.  The company said it will eliminate nonsufficient funds fees when an item is returned unpaid and notification fees when an account remains overdrawn. Other fees will be reduced. "We understand

Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to sell BNY Alcentra Group Holdings to Franklin Templeton.The $440 billion-asset Bank of New York Mellon disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Franklin Templeton will pay $350 million in cash at closing, and up to $350 million in contingent consideration, for the business. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023. Franklin Templeton has also committed to buy all seed

South State in Winter Haven, Fla., has reduced the size of its board by nearly a third. The $46.2 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it cut the board’s size from 19 directors to 13 after six members reached its mandatory retirement age. The smaller board “will serve the best interests of the company’s shareholders by providing a more streamlined governing body, as well as providing each director a greater

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida’s courtship of Apollo Bancshares in Miami began last summer, leading to exclusive negotiations between the two companies.The $10.9 billion-asset Seacoast announced its $168.3 million acquisition of the $1 billion-asset Apollo on March 29. Apollo had agreed in 2019 to sell itself to Suncoast Credit Union but the deal was terminated in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Conversations that led to the Seacoast deal began