Jim Dobbs

The seller, Farmers Bankshares, has $609 million of assets and eight branches.

Corporations are navigating shifting geopolitics, and M&A bankers are advising them as they consider selling off faraway units and focusing more on assets closer to home or in friendlier countries.

The West Virginia bank said its acquisition of Integrated Financial Holdings in North Carolina would give it SBA and USDA lending teams that have originated more than $1 billion of loans since 2018.

Rising interest rates, lower stock prices and other headwinds have caused many banks to pump the brakes on dealmaking. But some are betting that these trends will be too short-lived to deter them from engaging in mergers and acquisitions.

The serial acquirer agreed to pay $488.6 million for Professional Bank, which operates in areas of South Florida that have seen an influx of business activity since the start of the pandemic.

Robert Calloway, who served as executive vice president at the New Orleans bank before it failed in 2017, was accused of conspiracy to defraud the bank.

The Mississippi company said it would pay $207 million to acquire Heritage Southeast Bancorp in Atlanta. It also has a pending agreement to buy Beach Bancorp in Florida.

The top 20 banks with assets of $2 billion to $10 billion outshined their peers in loan and revenue growth while maintaining pristine credit quality in 2021, according to a new ranking. Can they do the same this year as recession clouds gather?

State Bankshares in North Dakota was the top performer in the $2 billion to $10 billion asset class in 2021, according to Capital Performance Group. Strong commercial lending, a national mortgage business as well as regional wealth management and insurance units offer diverse sources of growth, a company executive says.

Energy loan balances at the Oklahoma bank grew 6% from the prior quarter, and unfunded commitments to companies in the sector increased 11%. “This has been a really historic opportunity for BOK Financial Financial to take market share,” said CEO Stacy Kymes.

The deal comes on top of the company’s previously announced agreement to acquire another Wisconsin bank, Denmark Bancshares.

The Georgia bank said inflationary pressures and interest rate hikes could erode interest among borrowers, particularly in the commercial real estate business. Total loans grew at a 12% clip in the second quarter.

Unlike some of its peers, the Dallas bank says the U.S. economy is strong, clients are upbeat and lending momentum continues.

The Pittsburgh company expects a slowdown in 2023, but executives say they don't think it will prove severe or have an outsized impact on the banking industry.

While larger lenders retreat from the sector, SouthWest Bank recruited a new team to lend to drillers.

The Nashville bank has recruited a veteran commercial lender in Asheville who had worked with First Horizon, and it has hired four more bankers in Chattanooga.

Spiking interest rates, increased regulatory scrutiny, and mounting recession fears have all contributed to a deceleration in mergers in 2022.

The fast-paced rise in rates should be good for banks — until it isn't. The higher interest earned on loan payments will at some point be offset by higher interest paid on deposits. The only questions are: When, and by how much?

Business owners are seeing their cash flow strained by the highest inflation in 40 years and mounting costs to borrow money.

Missouri-based UMB Financial says it would acquire 157,000 accounts across more than 3,000 employer groups from Old National Bancorp in Indiana.