How First NBC cost the FDIC $1B

New Orleans-based First NBC Bank suffered a failure "unprecedented" in speed and circumstance, and much of the chatter among industry observers has been about whether former CEO Ashton Ryan Jr.'s "dominant influence" played a role in the collapse.

BB&T defends signing letter asking Treasury to look at CECL

BB&T Corp.'s CFO was one of 18 signatories in a letter asking regulators to put the current expected credit loss model's implementation on hold. Daryl Bible argued banks' internal models seem to indicate CECL could deepen a credit downturn sooner and prolong it.

Union Bankshares crosses $10B with deal, enters lucrative Hampton Roads market

A $701.2 million, all-stock deal for Xenith Bankshares Inc. will carry Richmond, Va.-based Union Bankshares Corp. into $12 billion-asset territory. The acquisition will also lower Union's loan-to-deposit ratio to 97%.

Berkshire Hills to surge past $10B with in-state bank deal

Also jumping over the $10 billion-asset mark into $12 billion is Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. The purchase of Commerce Bancshares Corp. is expected to close in six to nine months.

Alabama-based Capstone Bancshares to merge into SmartFinancial

The $84.8 million merger between Knoxville, Tenn.-based SmartFinancial Inc. and Capstone Bancshares Inc. of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is projected to be more than 25% accretive to SmartFinancial's earnings in each of the first two years after completion.