Retail & Commercial

TowneBank in Suffolk, Va., has agreed to buy Monarch Financial Holdings in Chesapeake, Va., for $220.6 million in stock.

EZCORP Inc. has responded to the $10.5 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau related to its payday lending and installment lending practices.

Now is not the time for the Federal Housing Administration — which has stayed strong amid turmoil — to reduce its market share.

Hanmi Financial in Los Angeles has withdrawn its proposal to merge with BBCN Bancorp. Hanmi said in a press release Thursday that its decision follows BBCN's agreement to buy Wilshire Bancorp.

Ally Financial, seeking new sources of customers, will finance used cars sold through Beepi, an 18- month-old website that lets people buy vehicles with a few clicks and no test drive.

Seventeen colleges will receive warning letters this week from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stating they may be in violation of federal law for not disclosing agreements they have with credit card companies.

Credit risk, interest rate risk and cybersecurity concerns pose growing risks, according to a semiannual risk report issued Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Green Dot is giving its chief financial officer job to Mark Shifke, who has been the firm's acting CFO for the last seven months.

First Bancorp in Southern Pines, N.C., has agreed to buy Bankingpoint, an insurance agency in Sanford, N.C.

Under the direction of Richard Holbrook, Eastern Bank has prepared itself for the next 200 years by embracing a culture innovation, adding scale through acquisitions and advocating for the less fortunate in its community. It's an unusual formula, but it has worked and that's why he is one of American Banker's three Community Bankers of the Year for 2015.