Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Pittsfield, Mass., has agreed to buy First Choice Bank in Lawrenceville, N.J.

People's United Financial in Bridgeport, Conn., has agreed to buy Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y.

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The $602 million-asset company said in a press release Friday that Stephen Bianchi was tapped to replace Edward Schaefer, who resigned in May.

The recently rebranded California International Bank has stiffed the government on 30 dividend payments and has spurned a request to let Treasury officials observe its board meetings. There is some optimism; a Vietnamese businessman was approved to take over control after injecting $4.5 million in capital into the bank.

OceanFirst Bank in Toms River, N.J., now has extra reason to cheer for the Monmouth University men’s basketball team that was in the running for an NCAA tournament berth last season.

South State in Columbia, S.C., has terminated five loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Digital tools improve a bank's traditional sales process, but relationship-based banking is still a huge factor in winning over millennial customers.

Franklin Financial Network in Tennessee hit a roadblock in its plan to buy Civic Bank & Trust in Nashville, but that didn't stop Franklin from hiring away Civic's chief executive.

His title may be changing, but Ray Davis' goal of altering the banking landscape remains the same. Davis, who will step down as Umpqua's CEO, will still run its innovation unit with a hope of influencing digital banking in the same way that he shook up retail banking.

Smaller institutions have added steadily to their holdings of securities that, while earning them a higher return, are more difficult to trade or liquidate.

The $3 billion-asset First United did not disclose how much it will pay for the $2.3 billion-asset American Bank. The deal is expected to close later this year.

The $380 million-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it had appointed Lawrence Seidman to its board, effective July 1.

The $5.3 billion-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it will buy two branches in the California markets of Granada Hills and Burbank from the $7.3 billion-asset Boston Private Financial Holdings in Boston.

First Mid-Illinois signed a confidentiality agreement last fall to pursue a mystery bank in Illinois. It soon discovered that the bank — First Clover Leaf — was an institution it had heavily courted three years earlier.

Two directors have resigned at 1st Constitution Bancorp as part of a dispute over changes to the Cranbury, N.J., company's board structure.

First Bancorp in Southern Pines, N.C., has agreed to buy Carolina Bank Holdings for $97.3 million, or $19.26, in cash and stock.

More institutions are willing to pursue small acquisitions, or rely on organic growth, to cross over a regulatory threshold that includes interchange fee caps and stress testing. A big reason is that bankers are becoming more comfortable with the financial toll of such regulation.

FVCBankcorp in Fairfax, Va., and Independent Bank Group in McKinney, Texas, are raising capital through private and public offerings of subordinated notes.

First Citizens BancShares in Raleigh, N.C., has terminated five of its nine loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.