Florida

Seacoast in Florida slashed the time it took to make 7(a) loans within months after establishing a partnership with an online lending startup.

With hurricane season just weeks away, bankers from coastal markets share the hard lessons learned after the storms that belted Florida, the Gulf Coast and elsewhere last year. Their advice can be applied in all kinds of emergencies.

Buyers are scooping up many of the market's biggest banks, making it harder for others to gain scale.

The Florida bank's placement of all taxi loans on nonaccrual status in recent months strengthened its bottom line in the first quarter.

The Florida company is also set to enter Alabama as part of the $360 million purchase.

The Arkansas company's revenue increased largely due to its 2017 purchase of Stonegate Bank.

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

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

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

Achieva Credit Union, which recently formed a business to advise other acquisition-minded credit unions, has agreed to buy Preferred Community Bank.