Capital

The North Carolina company agreed to pay $38 million in cash for First South Bancorp.

Silver River Community Bank is the fifth de novo in Florida to apply with the FDIC in the last three years.

The $128 million acquisition will provide First Financial with its first branches in Kentucky and Tennessee.

River Road Financial has agreed to buy Mississippi River Bank in a deal that will bring in a new CEO.

Organizers are planning to raise up to $25 million for Tandem Bank.

Bob Mahoney, CEO of Belmont Savings, called Jack Barnes after People's United agreed to buy a Connecticut bank. The banks announced their own merger agreement five months later.

Spirit Community Bank is the 15th bank to get the agency's approval this year. That list also includes Community Bank of the Carolinas, which was approved in early December.

James McLemore, one of our community bankers to watch in 2019, has more energy loans to purge and must exit the Small Business Lending fund and a BSA-related enforcement action.

The pressure is on CEO Christopher Myers, one of our community bankers to watch, to make the most of CVB Financial's biggest acquisition to date.

While these five bankers made headlines this year, not all of them did so for good reasons.