Americas

The bank's planned $142 million acquisition of Affinity Bancshares comes as war-related uncertainty appears to have slowed the industry's appetite for mergers.

Like much of the United States, Tampa Bay has seen very few new bank charters in recent years. That's a void that the new Echelon Bank, which is slated to open in May, hopes to fill.

Diligence Capital Management is pushing the beleaguered bank to add directors with bank turnaround experience. Eagle has been searching for a new CEO after getting battered from losses tied to its commercial real estate portfolio.

Jurors determined that Aaron Luneke, the former chief financial officer of Bank of the Valley in Nebraska, obtained millions of dollars in loans — including from his own bank — by inflating contractor bills for a new car wash business.

Three years after acquiring Bank of the West, BMO is preparing to open 130 branches in the Golden State, where it thinks it can achieve density and critical mass. The Toronto-based bank also plans to open 15 branches in Arizona.

WesBanco in Wheeling, West Virginia, has hired a team of lenders in South Florida. It plans eventually to open branches in a bid to grab a share of the region's expanding deposit market.

The company has agreed to a 20-year lease for the entire office portion and some retail space at the 51-story property, where it's already the anchor tenant.

A New York state bill would reduce the barrier for minority-bank and community-bank participation in the state's long-standing Banking Development District program.

Dean Bass, who served as CEO at two Houston community banks, plans to acquire Lone Star Bank in a deal expected to close this summer.