Community Banking

Eastern Financial Corp. provides a rich source of low-cost deposits that the larger Mercantile Bancorp can put to work in funding its much stronger loan growth.

A July pickup in activity is just a start, experts say. The banking industry's drive for scale and greater efficiency is expected to drive a renewed wave of consolidation, pushing the institution count lower.

Administration of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund at the Treasury Department will be led by the CDFI Fund's legal counsel following the resignation of the fund's director.

Prosperity Bancshares announced plans to buy Corpus Christi-based American Bank Holding Corp. in an all-stock deal.

Calls for applications for a bank-specific program within the Community Development Financial Institution Fund have been delayed, raising the possibility that those funds are unspent before the appropriated money expires.

The buyer said its $70 million cash-and-stock deal for Farmers State Bank will boost its presence in the northeast section of Ohio, and provide plenty of low-cost deposits

Seven of the 20 top-performing banks with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets last year were based in Texas. But it's not about being bigger.

First Northwest Bancorp is parting ways with CEO Matt Deines "by mutual agreement," the Port Angeles, Washington-based company said. Deines' departure comes a month after a hedge fund sued, alleging the lender was complicit in a Ponzi scheme.

Bill Martin, a real estate developer and athletics executive who founded the community bank in 1996, said he considers the privately held institution to be "like one of my kids."