Robert Barba is the technology editor of American Banker. Robert previously served as deputy editor of American Banker's dealmaking and strategy section. He joined American Banker in late 2007 as a community banking reporter, just in time for the financial crisis. Robert played a lead role in covering community banks' struggle for survival in the years following the downturn. Robert has appeared on Fox Business to discuss bank failures and the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Prior to joining American Banker, Robert was a general business reporter at Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Stuart, Fla. He began his career as a business desk intern at The Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera. Robert is based in New York.
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Nine months ago FirstMerit executives were under fire for agreeing to buy Citizens Republic. Its shares plummeted. Now its stock is trading near a 52-week high. See how they did it.
June 28 -
John W. Allison of Home BancShares finally got Liberty Bancshares to blink after 10 years of trying to buy it. Allison's persistence and the high multiples on Home's stock helped seal the deal.
June 26 -
The $4.2 billion-asset, Conway, Ark., company will pay $280 million in cash and stock for the $2.9 billion-asset Liberty.
June 25 -
Like a lot of buyers, Southern Missouri Bancorp would like to acquire bigger banks, but in agreeing to buy Bank of Thayer and its parent for $6.5 million, its execs say they are being realistic and going for what is available.
June 24 -
Two American Banker staffers who cover mergers and acquisitions have a confession to make. We sometimes get so enmeshed in the arcane numbers behind bank deals that we overlook what really makes them tick: the human element.
June 21 -
Republic First may try to revive its 2008 deal to sell itself to Metro Bancorp. That effort died at the feet of regulators but still makes sense in the eyes of some. Other banks are said to be asking similar questions about old deals.
June 20 -
Think you have time to wait to get in the M&A game? Think again, says Lynn Fuller of Heartland Financial in Iowa, who sees the next two years as the time to bulk up his multistate bank before prices soar.
June 18 -
Ocwen's agreement to buy $78 billion in mortgage servicing rights from OneWest is part of a string of deals by it and other nonbanks meant to wring value from remnants of the mortgage meltdown that many banks seek to unload.
June 14 -
Urban Partnership Bank's plans to open a branch inside a Walmart store in a revitalizing Chicago neighborhood show how two very different institutions decided they would be a good fit after listening to their customers.
June 13 -
Urban Partnership Bank announced Thursday it would open a branch in a Wal-Mart slated for Chicago's Pullman neighborhood.
June 13 -
Shareholders took a big gamble that Atlantic Coast Financial in Florida can raise enough capital to save itself when they rejected a buyout offer. There are more funds to be had these days, but they are harder to get, experts warn.
June 12 -
Bank investors may be softening their antipathy for long earn-back periods. When Union First Market Bankshares promised five years of dilution but a big boost to earnings from its deal for StellarOne, its stock declined only a little.
June 10 -
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed the $437.3 million-asset Mountain National Bank in Sevierville, Tenn., on Friday.
June 7 -
Shareholders who hoped proxy firms ISS and Glass Lewis would help them decide on Bond Street's controversial $5-per-share offer for Atlantic Coast Financial in Florida are out of luck: ISS says "aye," while Glass Lewis says "nay."
June 7 -
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. exercised its powers to appoint itself the receiver to circumvent a judge's ruling that barred Nevada regulators from closing a tiny bank belonging to Capitol Bancorp.
June 6 -
They have spent the last few years building mass through acquisitions, but AmericanWest Bank and First PacTrust Bancorp are now shedding the nonessential parts.
June 5 -
The $555 billion-asset Canadian company announced Tuesday that Costello plans to retire as its U.S. country head and as president and chief executive of its BMO Financial unit in Chicago.
June 4 -
Regulation should be strong enough to protect investors yet business-minded enough to promote active derivatives, mortgage and other markets, says Judd Gregg, a former New Hampshire lawmaker and new chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
June 3 -
The Michigan company is set to raise up to $100 million if the right acquisition is available. Analysts say in an erratic M&A market, it is better to be ready to raise capital than to raise it and wait.
May 31 -
SLM Corp. believes its bank unit would be more valuable as its own company, but it could also be attractive to other banks eager to add earning assets.
May 30
