Tennessee

Pinnacle Financial wanted to be in high-growth markets. BNC Bancorp saw more regulatory burden looming and limited opportunities to sell itself. Those factors spurred what is currently the year's second-biggest bank deal.

Bankers oppose legislation that would let local governments finance energy efficiency projects with liens ahead of the mortgage.

Commerce Union had been focused on expanding around Nashville, Tenn., until a lender based 120 miles away was available to hire.

DeVan Ard will succeed William DeBerry when DeBerry retires in June.

The $1.9 billion deal – the industry's largest announced in 2017 – will create a bank with nearly $20 billion in assets.

About $12 million of the proceeds will go toward exiting the Small Business Lending Fund.

The company would prefer buying banks with $5 billion to $10 billion in assets unless it finds an appealing alternative in a strategic market such as Raleigh or Nashville.

The commercial-and-industrial loan space is overheated, higher rates could stifle mortgage refinancings, and subprime auto delinquencies are on the rise. Bankers could be fighting these fires and more in the new year.

A former director at Pinnacle Financial Partners who pleaded guilty to insider trading agreed to pay a heftier fine after a judge rejected the initial penalty as being too low.

SmartFinancial in Knoxville, Tenn., has agreed to buy a branch in Tennessee from a division of Atlantic Capital Bank in Atlanta.