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TowneBank announces three promotions
TowneBank has promoted two presidents to new roles and appointed a president for its new region, the Suffolk-based bank announced Monday. Robin Cooke now serves as the president of retail banking. She was formerly president of the bank’s Portsmouth/Suffolk region, a role that C. Ross Morgan will fill in addition to maintaining his current role […]
TowneBank completes Farmers Bank acquisition
Suffolk-based TowneBank has completed its acquisition of Windsor-headquartered Farmers Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Farmers Bank, TowneBank announced Tuesday. The $56 million deal created a combined company worth $17.5 billion in total assets, loans of $10.9 billion and $14.5 billion. It adds Isle of Wight and Southampton counties to TowneBank’s service area, as well […]
Keeping watch
The question of the quarter: Are we entering a recession? One key indicator of a future recession can be inflation, which hit a 40-year high this year. Between June 2021 and June 2022, the consumer price index increased by 9.1%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. One of the first tangible signs for […]
Money matters
For the most part, the most prominent banking institutions in Hampton Roads stayed the same in fiscal year 2021, with Suffolk-based TowneBank holding the top market share of 27.49% (up nearly 2% from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s June 30, 2020, report) and second-place holders Truist and Wells Fargo banks with just below 20% each. […]
Va. Credit Union loses bid to expand membership
The Virginia State Corporation Commission ruled Wednesday that the Chesterfield County-based Virginia Credit Union cannot expand its membership to the Medical Society of Virginia, possibly resolving a three-year battle between the credit union, the Virginia Bankers Association and several community banks in the state. The credit union issued a brief statement Wednesday: “We are disappointed [...]
Stronger together
Bank acquisitions and mergers, particularly among Virginia’s community banks, continued apace in 2021. Banks sought scale for efficiency and flexibility, as well as to acquire resources in anticipation of potential new government regulation. “The recurring theme in bank mergers is scale,” Bruce Whitehurst, president and CEO of the Virginia Bankers Association, told Virginia Business in [&hel[...]
Fifth District economy has moderate growth, Fed says
The Federal Reserve’s Fifth District (including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland) saw modest growth but was constrained by supply issues and labor shortages, according to the latest edition of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released Wednesday. The Beige Book is published eight times per year and is based on anecdotal information gathered […]
Blue Ridge Bank, FVCbank merger delayed
The merger of Charlottesville-based Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Blue Ridge Bank, and Fairfax-based FVC Bankcorp Inc., the parent company of FVCbank, will be delayed, the companies announced this week. The two regional companies announced the merger, which would create a $5 billion combined company, on July 14. The expected closing at […]
Fed says Fifth District economy sees moderate growth
The Federal Reserve’s Fifth District (including Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland) saw modest growth in recent weeks, according to the latest edition of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released Wednesday. The Beige Book is published eight times per year and is based on anecdotal information gathered from the 12 Federal Reserve […]
Finance | Insurance
JOHN ASBURY PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND A native of Radford who graduated from Virginia Tech and received his MBA at William & Mary, Asbury now leads the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. Atlantic Union, which employs 1,839 people in Virginia, reported $677 million in revenue in 2020. It also has $19.6 […]
Come together
Virginia is seeing a wave of bank mergers and acquisitions, a trend that could intensify, banking experts say. “We could potentially see a record-setting year for bank mergers and acquisitions,” says John Asbury, president and CEO of Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp. and chairman of the Virginia Bankers Association. Banks are reaching for scale, meaning […]
Wells Fargo to lay off 320 Henrico County employees
The investment management and financial brokerage business unit of Wells Fargo & Co., Virginia’s third-largest bank by 2019 deposits, will lay off 320 employees from its Henrico County office. The wealth and investment management jobs are moving to some of the bank’s larger locations, Wells Fargo Advisors spokesperson Shea Leordeanu said in a statement. Wells […]
