Royal Credit Union on Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Apple Valley, Minn., office of Deerwood Bank.

By October of this year, ATM owners in the U.S. have to replace or upgrade their machines to accept chip cards or face liability for certain types of fraud. But the upgrade and related ongoing maintenance are so expensive that cash-machine operators like Abe Ayesh, who helps manage about 8,000 ATMs mostly on the East Coast, plans to shut down some of them.

Rather than replace bankers with technologists, bankers must return to their original role in the community: help entrepreneurs succeed through connecting capital with good ideas.

Royal Credit Union on Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Apple Valley, Minn., office of Deerwood Bank.

The $1.1 billion-asset company said in a press release Friday that it had combined its $492 million-asset CNB in Centreville, Md., and the $615 million-asset Talbot Bank in Easton, Md., to create Shore United Bank.

Banc of California in Irvine has changed its bylaws to allow for majority voting for directors.

For the second time in six weeks, the online lender Avant is taking steps to reduce the size of its workforce.

Franklin Financial Services in Chambersburg, Pa., has find a successor for its chief executive.

The U.S. mortgage market is of course considerably smaller, safer and less accessible than it was nine years ago.

Affirm's head of new markets, Brad Selby, says hidden fees and onerous compounding interest terms are trapping too many consumers in deep credit card debt.

Fannie and Freddie regulator's first report on NPL sales shows more borrowers avoid foreclosures when their loans are sold to investors.

The $99 million-asset thrift said in a recent press release that Best Hometown Bancorp, a holding company it created, raised $8.3 million as part of an initial public offering tied to its mutual-to-stock conversion. Home Federal also plans to change its name to Best Hometown Bank.

The $685 million-asset Pinnacle Financial in Elberton, Ga., said in a press release Friday that it will pay $32.8 million in cash for the $184 million-asset Independence Bank of Georgia in Braselton.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp is buying a bank with a national mortgage platform. The company hopes the business will provide a much-needed lift in fee income.

JPMorgan Chase is opening its doors to fintech startups to work with its business lines directly on bank innovations for faster, safer and more cost-efficient operations.

Liberty Shares in Hinesville, Ga., one of a handful of banks still stuck in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has raised $26 million in capital.

MVB Financial in Fairmont, W.Va., has sold most of its insurance business to USI Insurance Services in Valhalla, N.Y.

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

Initial coin offerings are the latest fad for many emerging cryptocurrency companies and projects. From the recently completed Lisk, Waves and Mycelium coin offerings to the historic crowd sale by the DAO – which was subsequently hacked for about $60 million – to Bitland, Project Decorum, Elastic Project and a good number more sales, the trend is clear.

The decision by a federal appeals court to toss out a blockbuster settlement between retailers and the card networks could re-expose some banks to legal liability and threaten their already challenged interchange income.