Growth strategies

After rising losses in 2020, First Credit Union of Scranton is seeking members' approval to merge into Penn East FCU.

The new name is the first major change since Dennis Zember became the company's CEO last year.

The credit union expects to open at least eight branches across the country in the months ahead, about half of what it normally adds to its brick-and-mortar network in an average year.

The banker, who led the 2013 recapitalization that created Byline, will replace a longtime colleague who will continue to run the company's bank.

Broadway Financial had hit a plateau and was in search of a successor to its longtime CEO Wayne-Kent Bradshaw. After the Los Angeles company rejected two buyout offers, Bradshaw reconnected with an old friend at CFBanc in Washington.

A deal to bring Coulee Dam FCU into the fold will expand the Spokane, Wash.-based credit union's branch network while providing a wider array of technologies to the former CDFCU members.

Intensifying competition from banks could persuade large credit unions — particularly those with more than $1 billion of assets — to join forces in 2021.

Amerant Mortgage includes several former bankers from City National Bank of Florida in Miami.

Nitin Mhatre, who ran Webster's consumer and business banking operations, will become the company's third CEO in less than three years.

The Louisiana company has agreed for the second time to acquire Cheaha Financial Group in Alabama.