Paul Davis

The company will also surpass $10 billion in assets when it buys Community Bank.

Savings Bank of Walpole and New Hampshire Mutual Bancorp believe merging help them preserve a banking model that has faced pressure in recent years. The CEO at Savings Bank will also replace New Hampshire Mutual's retiring leader.

Harrison Finance has 35 offices, nearly 140 employees and about $95 million of outstanding loans.

The company will still use the building for its main office, but it will move its administrative staff to another building.

First Citizens, which wants to buy KS Bancorp, has filed a lawsuit to challenge a so-called poison pill provision that the much smaller bank's board recently passed.

Achieva Credit Union, which recently formed a business to advise other acquisition-minded credit unions, has agreed to buy Preferred Community Bank.

The company agreed to buy Bank of River Oaks for $85 million in cash.

The Justice Department required the sales before signing off on MainSource's pending sale to First Financial in Cincinnati.

The California company has agreed to buy Grandpoint Capital, a business bank in Los Angeles, for $641 million.

At least eight banks are in various stages of formation, including two that have opened. While that is nowhere near the de novo activity of the early 2000s, it's a positively brisk pace compared with the standstill that existed for many years after the financial crisis.

The Kansas City, Mo., company sold Marquette Asset Management, a business it gained as part of its purchase of Marquette Financial Cos., to the firm's principals.

The regional bank sold the business, which serves about 90 clients, to a New York commercial finance firm.

The company, which raised $23 million through a private placement, had a 6.97% total capital ratio at Dec. 31.

The company will add $600 million in assets under management when it buys a Roanoke, Va., firm.

The divestitures are necessary to get the Justice Department to sign off on First Financial's $1 billion purchase of MainSource Financial.

The Texas company will gain four branches and $160 million in loans after the acquisition closes.

The Dallas company has agreed to sell its health care lending group to an undisclosed buyer.

A Swiss financier has agreed to buy Brickell Bank a year after another sale fell through.

The Seattle company, which is gearing up for a proxy battle with Blue Lion Capital, appointed a former U.S. Bancorp executive to fill a board vacancy.

Ameris would gain 24 Atlanta-area branches in the $406 million deal.