Retail & Commercial

United Community Financial in Youngstown, Ohio, has agreed to buy Ohio Legacy Corp. in North Canton for $40.3 million, or $18 a share, in cash and stock.

Orrstown Financial Services in Shippensburg, Pa., has hired three former rivals from Metro Bank in Harrisburg: Adam Metz, Andrew Johnson and Doug Hummer.

Technology that improves compliance, lending and payments by automating processes and relying on AI was spotlighted at Next Money and Finovate, two fintech conferences held in New York this week.

Within five years, a dramatic transformation of the mortgage market will force firms to expand product menus beyond mortgages to develop stronger relationships with their customers.

Pacific Continental in Eugene, Ore., has found a key position for an executive from a bank it recently bought.

Colony Bankcorp in Fitzgerald, Ga., has redeemed $3.6 million in perpetual preferred stock associated with the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

A likely sale of CIT Group's aircraft unit (and a whole lot of other stuff) is keeping Ellen Alemany busy, a former Wall Street banker talks about big data as a financial weapon of mass discrimination targeting women and the poor, and First Busey shows how investing in employees pays off. Also, TIAA's Kathie Andrade, Deloitte's Cathy Engelbert and (to spice things up) Victoria Beckham.

A rising number of banks are looking to become community development financial institutions, emboldened by low-cost capital and an exemption from the ability-to-repay rule.

Captex Bancshares, which has been created by George Lea and Michael Thomas Jr., has an agreement to buy the $165 million-asset parent of First National Bank of Trenton. Captex did not disclose how much it would pay for the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter.

Banks are making it easier to get approved for a checking account. But once-banished customers may not be able to use some of the features that made having an account attractive in the first place.