EMEA

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.

Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., has opened an Atlanta office to focus on asset-based lending in the southeastern U.S.

Atlantic Capital Bancshares in Atlanta plans to issue $50 million in subordinated debt to finance its acquisition of First Security Group in Tennessee.

State Bank Financial in Atlanta has reduced its workforce by consolidating several company departments, as it pivots away from failed-bank loss-share agreements and looks to acquire healthy banks.

Two community banks — Community Bankers Trust in Richmond, Va., and Charter Financial in West Point, Ga. — have reached early terminations of loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Banks are seeing steady growth in consumer loan demand nationwide, particularly in auto loans and mortgages, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.