Banking

Mergers and acquisitions across all ends of the size spectrum were the hot topic in the local banking sector in 2024.

The Milwaukee-based national firm made its entrance into the local market by recruiting a duo from a rival company.

The banking giant is eyeing a former Burger King site near the intersection of Route 1 and West Hundred Road. It would give the bank nearly a dozen branches in the region.

Chesterfield resident Robert Brian Thompson pocketed more than $700,000 by illegally trading on the stocks of banks under his purview at the Fed, including Capital One.

Robert Brian Thompson is facing criminal and civil charges for allegedly pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars by using illegal inside information to trade on the stocks of the same financial institutions he was tasked with examining.

The 160-year-old firm is branching out from its longtime downtown headquarters to open a meeting space for its advisors and their clients.

Richmond’s biggest bank is about to get a lot bigger, with a deal that will create a $39 billion regional behemoth that spans the coveted “Golden Crescent.”

The two moves come less than a year into the tenure of CEO Will Groves, who took the helm at New Horizon at the beginning of 2024.

It would be the $29 billion bank’s first new local branch since it entered the region in 2021 with the acquisition of Henrico-based Essex Bank.

The deal brings First Bank to $2.1 billion in total assets and includes Touchstone’s seven local branches and $338 million in local deposits.