Retail & Commercial

On Dec. 31, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

Five Star Bank, which is based in a rural part of New York state, has embraced digital lending, banking-as-a-service, real-time payments, bitcoin and more. “Those that don’t innovate don’t survive,” says Chief Administrative Officer Sean Willett.

The $7.6 billion deal was originally expected to close in the fourth quarter of last year, but the banks had pushed back their deadline until June. Once the merger is complete, the combined bank will have more than $200 billion in assets.

Russia reverberations, a rebranding, a resignation and more in banking news this week.

The misclassification of certain cash flows in 2021 was a “material weakness,” according to a securities filing. Management restated the relevant financial statements and promised to lay out a “plan to remediate” the issue.

Credit unions and banks need to ask themselves if they're finding ways to say "yes" to consumers who too often hear "no" from mainstream institutions. Otherwise, they perpetuate a system that excludes the poor and people of color and drive them toward nonbanks, said Pablo DeFilippi of Inclusiv Network and other experts.

The Louisiana-based Barksdale has agreed to purchase HomeBank of Arkansas. It is the fourth deal involving the sale of a bank to a credit union in less than two weeks.

The Canadian banking giant cited labor shortages, rising inflation and the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as reasons for keeping loan-loss allowances above pre-pandemic levels.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, which earlier this week announced a $13.4 billion acquisition to expand in the U.S., got a lift from loan growth at home.

At the bank’s investor day, CEO Jane Fraser and other top executives outlined where they are investing, how they are reorganizing and what it will all cost.