Fintech

First Busey will pay $133 million in cash and stock for Mid Illinois in a deal that should close later this year.

Jeffrey Osher, who led a bare-knuckle fight last year to oust the prepaid card company’s CEO and chairman, will serve as an adviser to the firm’s board.

Lower tax rates won’t be unqualified good news for banks, as a lower rate would reduce the savings that they get from making tax-exempt loans to cities, counties and other governmental agencies.

SBA lending is on a tear. Gulf Coast Bank & Trust is the latest institution to dive into doing this activity nationwide after buying CapitalSpring.

Seoul-based Viva Republica, which is seeing brisk growth with Toss, its person-to-person payments app, recently drew $48 million in venture capital funding. The series C funding round was led by Silicon Valley’s Goodwater Capital, along with PayPal, Bessemer Venture Partners, Altos Ventures and Partech Ventures.

League representing Florida and Alabama credit unions will pay out more than $200,000 in dues rebates, bringing the grand total returned to members in recent years to more than $1.4 million.

Farmers National will pay about $7.8 million in cash and stock for the $43.3 million-asset Monitor in a deal that should close in the second or third quarter.

Mobile money apps have proven to be a major force in building financial services in emerging economies, but under the hood they can be starkly different.

The industry has made great strides in faster payments over the past year. Even more cooperation among stakeholders will be needed in the year ahead.

The technology from MCX's CurrentC wallet, which never formally launched, will get new life with Chase Pay, which debuted in 2016 with Starbucks, Best Buy and commitments from MCX members such as Walmart.