Corporate governance

Mike Daniels has been president and CEO of Nicolet's bank since 2015.

The Dallas company will pay nearly $54 million for a 49% stake in a lender that operates in 10 states.

The $56 million acquisition will extend Southern California Bancorp's footprint north of Los Angeles.

Profits slumped last year and many investors are now voicing their displeasure with the compensation awarded to senior leaders. A nonbinding “say on pay” vote taken Tuesday passed narrowly, but Chairman Charles Noski indicated that the board will take the results into account when designing future pay packages.

Citigroup said a full review conducted after the lender mistakenly sent $900 million to a group of investment firms concluded the bank didn’t need to claw back any pay from executives.

The Missouri company announced the deal just five months after buying Seacoast Commerce in San Diego.

The merger would create a company with nearly 400 branches, 87 loan production offices and $87 billion of assets.

The proposed acquisition is the second deal in as two days to involve an Atlanta-based seller.

The Illinois companies agreed to merge in a transaction that is expected to close later this year.

Regulators recently eased field-of-membership rules to promote growth of federal credit unions. A handful of institutions are taking advantage of the changes to recruit more members, but some may find the process too cumbersome.