Arkansas

Southern Bancorp, a community development financial institution, will devote part of a multimillion-dollar investment from the payments giant to developing technology that helps consumers budget, buy a home and more.

Southern Bancorp's CEO said money from Square would help his bank continue serving underserved communities.

Truity Credit Union in Oklahoma is selling its only branch in the state.

Southern Bancorp, which recently raised $35 million in capital, agreed to acquire DeWitt First Bankshares, the parent of Arkansas County Bank.

The trade group representing credit unions in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma said the change is an attempt to better unify a variety of services the association offers.

Karyn Davis has taken over as chief executive following Linda Stanton's retirement.

The Arkansas bank is bracing for a rough 2020 amid record prepayments and a big substandard loan in its commercial real estate book, but CEO George Gleason insists shareholders will see "a nice payoff" in the long run.

One found a buyer, another announced plans to retire, and others took steps to reinvent their banks.

The veteran banker succeeded Randy Sims, who recently retired. Sims had been the Arkansas company's CEO since replacing Allison in 2009.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette FCU, originally chartered to serve newspaper employees, has received regulatory approval to merge into a larger institution.