* French insurer Axa is buying Bermuda-based XL Group, a global property and casualty commercial lines insurer and reinsurer, for $15.3 billion in cash.
* A Los Angeles Superior Court jury dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance over alleged withholding of dividends from hundreds of term life insurance policyholders.
* Stark Bancshares is buying Bolivar, Mo.-based Farmers Financial in a deal expected to close in the second quarter, the Bolivar Herald-Free Press reports.
* United Bank of Iowa is acquiring in-state peer First Trust & Savings Bank, the Cherokee (Iowa) Chronicle Times reports. The deal is expected to close in August.
* Texas-based Guardian 1st FCU has merged with and into Virginia-based Justice FCU.
* Asset manager Lighthouse Investment Partners is buying substantially all of the assets of hedge fund Mesirow Advanced Strategies.
* The U.S. Senate will vote on a bill this week that would lessen the regulatory burden for smaller banks, The New York Times reports.
* A total of 38 senators and 75 representatives — including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas — filed an amicus brief supporting President Donald Trump's authority to appoint Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Daily Dose: Express Edition is updated as of 6:30 a.m. ET. Some external links may require a subscription.
