Practice management

Heightened expectations for increased economic activity could boost loan demand after a soft 2024.

Florida-based Amerant Bancorp recently restructured its securities portfolio after selling its Houston branches.

Arrow Financial in Glens Falls kept busy in December, consolidating its two subsidiary banks, expanding its board and restructuring its securities portfolio.

The Florida company completed its purchase of Independent Bank, increasing its liability sensitivity and jumping to $65 billion in assets.

The Honolulu-based utility sold a 90.1% stake in American Savings Bank. The deal valued the lender at $450 million.

Transactions grew larger and more frequent this year. As a result, aggregate value more than tripled from 2023 and topped $15 billion.

The New Canaan, Connecticut-based company agreed to allow Larry Seidman, who sits on its board, buy an additional 5% of its shares. Seidman currently owns about 9.5% of Bankwell.

The Pennsylvania-based buyer said it would pick up nearly $350 million of assets and a commercial-focused loan portfolio as part of the $54.6 million deal.

The Federal Reserve and OCC approved the company's plan to buy Independent Bank Group in Texas, putting the deal on track to close early next year as expected. In an atmosphere of M&A delays for banks, the deal is on a relatively smooth path.

The combination would create a Northeast regional bank with nearly $24 billion of assets. It would rank as the eighth-largest bank in the Boston metropolitan area by deposit market share.

The Long Island bank is the latest financial institution to use new equity to restructure its balance sheet and unload low-yielding assets. Its stock price tumbled after the shares were priced at a considerable discount.

The bank said it redeployed proceeds from the sale into high-yielding investments. It also said it would end an employee pension plan to curb expenses.

A close result was complicated by an hour-long adjournment of the New York-based company's annual meeting that angered dissident investors and left them mulling legal action.

The Canadian bank received approval from the Federal Reserve to increase its ownership stake in KeyCorp to up to 14.9%. The investment is expected to close by the end of this month.

The Delaware-based bank filed a complaint against two companies that built a WSFS logo display in downtown Philadelphia. Part of the signage eventually broke off in what the bank called an "almost-tragedy."

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe, and victims will always require support from their banks. A plan for delivering that support needs to be in place before disaster strikes.

The Dallas bank's new CEO, Thomas Shafer, served in top roles at a number of banks that were subsequently acquired before he stepped away from the industry in 2022.

The North Carolina-based bank rolled out a multiyear program to provide loans, investments and philanthropic support to communities in the western part of the state.