The Tennessee bank's deal for Fountain Leasing is set to close this month.

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.

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

At first the deal seemed an unlikely marriage of two mortgage-heavy companies. But acquiring the Michigan company would help New York Community accomplish its two chief goals — reducing deposit costs and its concentration of multifamily loans — while giving it the scale to pursue more deals.

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

Deposits keep flooding in, mortgage lending shows signs of cooling, and bankers can’t agree on when commercial lending will rebound. Here’s what we learned from first-quarter results.

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.

Affirm's deal to buy Returnly emphasizes the need to simplify the process when a point-of-sale lender stands between the consumer and merchant.