Banking

After establishing its local banking presence through a major acquisition earlier this year, TowneBank is now building up its insurance operations and has bought out three smaller firms.

Richmond-area banks have added a combined $3.4 billion in local deposits since last summer, but the clout of Capital One and a few new arrivals have chipped away at the market share of the area’s four major players.

The unexpected merger announcement Thursday between Park Sterling and First Capital banks has been on both companies’ radars for years – and the two sides almost joined forces once before.

One of the larger newcomers to the Richmond banking market has made its biggest local splash to date with plans to acquire First Capital Bank in a deal valued at $82.5 million.

After 25 years with the bank, Union President John Neal is retiring at the end of the year, leaving the CEO to fill the position.

Chesapeake Bank has joined the busy banking stretch of Patterson Avenue in a freshly remodeled branch that will serve as its local headquarters.

As Richmond-area banks continue to rise in performance quarter to quarter, another local institution has joined the top of the pack.

Six years after taking over the loan portfolio of a Maryland bank that shut down during the recession, a local institution has arranged a multimillion-dollar way out of an FDIC program that mitigates the risk of such a deal.

As the local commercial lending market heats up, one bank is downsizing its retail operations to try to grab a bigger piece of the business banking scene.

A string of new banks making their Richmond entrances – often offering hard-to-resist financing terms and setting up branches in high-traffic areas – has some local bankers wondering about the sustainability of such a competitive field.