Paul Davis

The company agreed to buy First Priority Financial for $82 million in stock.

Blue Lion Capital has complained about the company's reliance on mortgages and bank acquisitions.

The company has agreed to pay more than $50 million for United American Bank.

The company, which agreed to pay $58 million for Foundation's parent, will gain five branches in Cincinnati.

The payments company will pay $321 million for Crestmark Bank, a commercial lender that focuses on asset-based lending, equipment finance and government-guaranteed loans.

United will pay $130 million for NLFC Holdings, the parent company of Navitas Credit.

Banks, especially smaller institutions, will be forced to find more ways to differentiate, Bryan Jordan said in an interview that also covered his company's recent purchase of Capital Bank and how tax reform will immediately stimulate the economy.

Changing political and economic forces are raising new questions about deployment of tax savings and the cost of deposits, while old concerns about cost-cutting, credit quality and risk-taking persist or return.

Acquirers announced deals in California, Missouri and Pennsylvania on the last business day of 2017, raising the year's final tally to 245 transactions.

Scott Page, CEO of CoBiz Bank, will retire in a few days. He will be succeeded by Steven Bangert, the company's chairman and CEO. The company's chief financial officer will also become its chief operating officer.

The company will gain four Chicago-area branches as part of the $41 million all-cash acquisition for the parent of ABC Bank.

Rita Lowman recently joined the bank from C1 Financial, where she had been chief operating officer.

Davis, who stepped down as CEO a year ago, will retire as the company's chairman and as an employee at the end of 2017. Umpqua will then become one of the few publicly traded banking companies with a female chair.

We never promised the news would be good for all these community bankers, and it wasn’t. One couldn’t stop a failure, and another quit soon after an acquisition. The rest have their banks at different points on the comeback trail.

The acquisition will give LCNB its first branch and deposits in the Columbus, Ohio, market.

Heritage Commerce will pay $32 million for Tri-Valley in a deal that should be accretive to tangible book value and earnings.

The company will set aside more than $10 million, with most of the provision addressing an issue with a commercial loan.

The $280 million securitization is also expected to boost capital levels and lower Dime's loan-to-deposit ratio.

Washington Federal in Chicago, which had a clean balance sheet and plenty of capital on Sept. 30, was shuttered shortly after the death of its CEO and regulators' discovery of "substantial dissipation of assets."

Bankers remember Bob Wilmers not only for spearheading the growth of M&T, but also embracing his role as the industry's voice in turbulent times.