EMEA

Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., is set to catapult over $10 billion in assets after agreeing to buy Community & Southern Holdings in Atlanta.

Acquisitions would seem to be a logical course of action for regional banks struggling to cut costs and boost revenues in the low interest rate environment, but some bank chief executives are less open to the idea than others as comments by the heads of First Horizon and SunTrust demonstrate.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta reported a lower third-quarter profit, citing negative effects from the low interest rate environment.

IDology, an Atlanta provider of fraud-prevention and identity verification, has made an equity investment in the mobile identity authentication provider Payfone.

Hancock Holding in Gulfport, Miss., has agreed to buy a portfolio of health care loans from United Community Banks in Blairsville, Ga.

Kabbage is one of many nonbank lenders looking to partner with traditional financial institutions. But the firm is facing a tough sell with bankers who worry about the risks associated with ceding control of the loan-underwriting process.

A bank failure in Georgia and then another in Washington state late Friday were estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. nearly $25 million.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., has agreed to buy Jacksonville Bancorp in Florida.

Get a bunch of community bankers together and they start sharing efficiency ratios like golf scores. There seem to be more bogeys than holes in one these days in the course of cost-cutting.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., plans to close 10 branches in an effort to save about $5 million a year in operating costs.