Community banks support legislation that would exempt them from paying tax on interest earned from farmland loans, arguing it would make them more competitive with government-backed lenders and expand access to credit in rural areas.

HoldCo Asset Management opposed the $900 million deal, arguing that Boston Private failed to consider other potential buyers and did not attract an acceptable price.

Banks such as Santa Cruz County Bank are now trading shares over the counter to capitalize on investors' bullish outlook for small lenders.

Even as lockdowns ease, the trend toward remote work poses challenges for building owners and the banks that lend to them.

Amerant Bank has invested $2.5 million in Marstone to provide a digital alternative to personal wealth advisors for new and existing clients. The technology "gets planning capabilities into the hands of any customer that wants them," says Jerry Plush, the Florida bank's new CEO.

With an agreement in hand to buy Bank of Commerce Holdings in Sacramento, the Washington company will prioritize filling in a 200-mile gap between the seller's footprint and its own.

The deal for Bank of Commerce Holdings in Sacramento would be the first bank acquisition in the Golden State for Tacoma, Washington-based Columbia.

Splash recently raised $44 million from investors. It plans to use the funds to aid small institutions that lack the resources to build their own loan platforms but are flush with deposits and looking for new lending opportunities.

The $124 million buyout would give Farmers nearly $800 million of additional assets and deepen its presence in northeast Ohio.

The bank's holding company, CRB Group, has acquired PeerIQ, an online lending marketplace data provider backed by the former CEOs of Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. It's said it wants more deals like this one.

No-fee digital bank accounts subsidized by the Federal Reserve would help community banks draw in new customers and pay for technology upgrades, proponents of the idea say. But it's a hard sell to executives skeptical of government involvement in retail banking.

Sunwest Bank in Irvine, California, lets business customers open new checking accounts completely online, a technology challenge some large and regional financial institutions have yet to tackle.

In buying the $1.5 billion-asset County Bancorp, Nicolet would become the second-largest bank in Wisconsin and the state’s No. 1 dairy lender. It's the second bank acquisition deal Nicolet has announced this quarter.

Thomas Caldwell has run Middlefield Banc Corp. for 26 years.

Acquiring Pilot Bank would allow the credit union to serve members who live or vacation in Florida. The deal is the fifth deal this year in which a credit union is purchasing a bank.

After agreeing in March to be sold to a Florida real estate firm, Sunnyside accepted a higher bid from one of its investors, Rhodium BA Holdings.

In the past five years combined only 14 banks failed to meet the minimum market capitalization for inclusion in the index. In this year's rebalancing, 82 are being removed and some may have to consider strategic options to appease investors.

The lender's founder and CEO says the acquisition of Roscoe State Bank will give it new products and referral sources.

Chief operating officer Sam Sidhu takes over as president and chief executive on July 1. He has a list of 25 potential markets the Pennsylvania bank might enter, and has already begun hiring commercial bankers in Texas, Florida and Illinois.

Southern Bancorp's CEO said money from Square would help his bank continue serving underserved communities.