Finance

The Alabama company will enter Sarasota, Fla., after buying Premier for $52 million.

The $6 million acquisition will add four businesses with a total of $700 million in assets under management.

In an update on the Deposit Insurance Fund, FDIC staff said the fund's ratio of reserves to estimated deposits will likely reach the required 1.35% level by the second half of 2018.

The Indiana-based credit union made significant gains in membership, lending, assets and more.

Gulfside Bank, which would be based in Sarasota, is angling to become southwest Florida's first new bank in a decade.

Credit unions will be watching as the Senate's regulatory relief bill heads to the House, but government spending and interest rates may delay that process by several weeks.

Bank stocks in recent months were a fallback for suffering tech investors, but now both sectors are getting hit. It's a sign of tightening interest rate spreads — and more volatility to come.

Organizers want to open the first new bank in Michigan since 2009, while a third group in Florida has filed a de novo application.

Nonbanks are originating more commercial mortgages on fixer-uppers in response to a sharp drop in the cost of funding in the securitization market. These deals are said to be "vastly different" than other CRE instruments that sustained big losses in the crisis — so far.

Independent Bank Group said the firms had become shareholders after it bought Carlile Bancshares last year.

The company will take a nearly $10 million hit after setting aside funds to cover a case of potential borrower fraud.

Readers opine on the prospect of regulatory relief, weigh in on the need for regulators to become more tech savvy, react to HSBC hopping back into U.S. mortgage lending and more.

First the House and now the Senate have included provisions in their regulatory relief bills that bankers say would go a long way toward clearing up confusion over how to treat high-volatility commercial real estate loans.

Legacy financial firms like the big credit bureau are seeking out financial technology to diversify themselves, bring new products to market faster and meet the needs of global customers.

Park National, which came to regret its acquisition of a Florida bank just before the financial crisis, took more than a year to vet NewDominion before making an offer.

Online banks and some credit unions are responding to Fed rate hikes by aggressively raising deposit rates on CDs, savings accounts and money market products, while the nation's biggest banks are largely standing pat — for now.

Ken Rees at Elevate Credit calls payday lending "the roach motel of financial products" and says his alternative has helped subprime borrowers get back on their feet.

The company's deal for Coastway Bancorp in Rhode Island makes sense since both institutions are former credit unions.

With rate hikes aplenty expected this year, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are said to be subdividing key markets to target deposit pricing in the future and minimize costs. These are among several innovative steps large banks are taking to prepare for more competition for deposits.

Organizers in Winston-Salem are planning to raise at least $25 million to form Community Bank of the Carolinas.