* In Virginia, First Community Bankshares agreed to acquire Highlands Bankshares and unit Highlands Union Bank in a $91.0 million all-stock deal expected to close in the fourth quarter.
* In Rhode Island, Navigant CU is purchasing the assets and absorbing all of the members of Kent Hospital FCU, the Providence (R.I.) Business News reports, citing Navigant CU spokesman Tim Draper. The merger is expected to close early in 2020.
* Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria is "extremely hopeful" that his agency and the Treasury Department will finalize discussions to end the net worth sweep issue related to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae before the year ends. He said what will take long is ensuring the two government-sponsored enterprises are financially healthy enough to be set free from government conservatorship, adding his agency is also mulling a re-proposal of the regulatory capital rules for the GSEs it put forward in 2018.
* Due to a "dramatically different" interest rate environment, Morgan Stanley is expecting that its net interest income will decline, the Financial Times reports, citing the company's CFO, Jon Pruzan. At the Barclays financials conference in New York, Pruzan also said equity trading activity has been bearish lately because of uncertainties related to the trade wars and the world economy in general.
* Albany, N.Y.-based Pioneer Bancorp discovered potentially fraudulent activity linked to transactions done in the quarter ending Sept. 30 by an established business customer of its unit, Pioneer Bank.
* The House Committee on Financial Services will hold at 9:30 a.m. today a hearing titled "The Future of Identity in Financial Services: Threats, Challenges and Opportunities."
* On the insurance front, the New York Department of Financial Services reminded New York life insurers and insurance producers that they are prohibited from soliciting, negotiating, selling and/or servicing in any manner group annuity contracts issued by unauthorized insurers in the state.
* The uninsured rate for children under the age of 19 rose to 5.5% in 2018 from 5% in 2017, indicating that 425,000 more children had no healthcare coverage in 2018 compared to 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau's annual health insurance coverage report shows.
* Global mining insurance is not yet a hard market despite a general hardening of rates due to recent losses, according to Willis Towers Watson risk review for 2019. Graham Knight, global head of natural resources at Willis Towers Watson, described the sector's capacity as "plentiful by historical standards."
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