Pinnacle Financial wanted to be in high-growth markets. BNC Bancorp saw more regulatory burden looming and limited opportunities to sell itself. Those factors spurred what is currently the year's second-biggest bank deal.

The two institutions will operate under the Community Choice CU banner.

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The tiny Flagship Bank has made an unusual bet in agreeing to pay 20 times current capital to buy BankMobile, but the same Durbin amendment that prompted Customers Bancorp to sell the unit also made Flagship the ideal buyer.

Investar will pay $46 million in cash for Citizens, which has three branches and $246 million in assets.

The price Customers Bancorp is getting for its BankMobile unit would exceed the initial estimates of $100 million to $150 million.

The New York bank will double in size while gaining greater access to Long Island and low-cost deposits that should come in handy as interest rates rise.

Premier Asset Management will add $550 million of assets under management to a platform that First Midwest has historically built with organic growth.

The agreement comes three months after Astoria and New York Community Bancorp called off plans to merge.

The Chicago company postponed a vote planned late last year after a surge in bank stocks changed the math behind the cash-and-stock transaction.

Cache Valley Bank in Utah agreed to buy Proficio's deposits and most of its assets.

Merger will join two CUs originally chartered to serve telephone company employees.

Caliber will also buy about $36 million of mortgage servicing rights in a deal that is expected to close at the end of March.

The bank will have $700 million in assets under management after it buys HJ Wealth Management in Pennsylvania.

Merger effective March 1 after 90% of Martin FCU's membership voted in favor of the move.

Iberiabank is making the biggest deal in its history in Miami, an area known for boom-bust cycles and a condo market that stung banks during the crisis.

Union of North Island CU and California CU creates $2.8 billion institution.

The $1 billion deal, the second-largest bank acquisition announced this year, will expand Iberiabank's operations in South Florida.

Customers and employees of Opus Bank and Banc of California could bolt to several other Southern California banks amid downsizing, scandal and credit quality issues.

Regulators ought to make it easier for smaller institutions to merge, the CEO of the country's largest said Tuesday.