The all-stock acquisition of Limestone Bancorp in Louisville would give the buyer an additional $1.5 billion of assets and 20 branches in the Bluegrass State.

Bank of Princeton in New Jersey said it would pay $25 million in cash to acquire Noah Bank, whose former CEO was convicted on charges that included bank bribery and theft.

Citizens Financial said it would pay $67.4 million to buy HV Bancorp, the holding company for Huntingdon Valley Bank, in a bid to expand in Greater Philadelphia.

The parent of City National Bank of West Virginia said it would pay $61 million in stock to acquire Citizens Commerce Bancshares.

Since 1982, the Small Business Administration's 7(a) program has been restricted almost entirely to banks and credit unions. A proposed rule would open it to fintech lenders.

There were 37 deals announced in the third quarter, well below the 64 announced in the same period of 2021, according to a Raymond James analysis. Uncertainty over the November election is just the latest factor slowing mergers and acquisitions.

Sterling Bancorp is suing its founder and former CEO, Scott Seligman, to get him to repay dividends it alleges are tied to his influence over its problematic Advantage Loan program. The lawsuit claims Seligman was so controlling he even used a robot — nicknamed the "Scott Bot" — to surveil employees.

Walden Mutual in New Hampshire is targeting a mid-November opening after winning final approval for its deposit insurance application from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Prosperity will pay $341.6 million for First Bancshares of Texas and $228.7 million for Lone Star State Bancshares. Both deals are slated to close early next year.

Using a local beach as a canvas for its billboard — which vanishes as the tide comes in — the bank is drawing attention to how customers' financial choices can affect the environment.

The Pittsburgh-based parent of First National Bank of Pennsylvania plans to close its $117 million buyout of UB Bancorp in December.

Daniel D. Robb of Jonesburg State Bank takes over as chairman of the American Bankers Association, which elected officers and board members for 2022-23 at its annual convention.

Analysts are watching to see if more lenders join the ranks of First Northwest in Washington state and Orrstown Financial Services in Pennsylvania, which laid off staff or closed branches to offset rising wages and other expenses.

Financial institutions of all sizes — from JPMorgan Chase to SouthState to Fairwinds Credit Union — have reopened many branches, rolled out mobile banking units as well as reemployed pandemic-era digital and loan-forgiveness strategies in parts of Florida and South Carolina devastated by the powerful hurricane.

Taichung Commercial Bank said it would pay $82.1 million to buy American Continental Bancorp in suburban Los Angeles.

In this month's roundup of American Banker's favorite stories: Home appraisers get disillusioned, a couple lives mortgage-free for 13 years, digging into the cracks in credit quality, quantum computing's future in banking, and more.

The company said a national search ended in its backyard with the hiring of Wisconsin veteran banker Tim Schneider, the former CEO and co-founder of Investors Community Bank.

Nearly nine out of 10 bankers surveyed by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors ranked the specter of rising deposit costs and narrowing margins as their top concern.

Leaders who set clear expectations do not create hostile settings. If anything, good people are motivated knowing what they do is noticed and matters.