Business Briefing: First Community Bank is now Providence Bank

A Fairview Heights bank has merged with another bank and has a new name.

First Community Bank at 4600 N. Illinois St. is now Providence Bank. The Fairview Heights branch is the first in the metro-east and joins other Providence Bank branches in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Texas.

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An $18.7 billion settlement has been reached in the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement would be the largest of its kind if is approved in court. Most of the money will go to the state of Louisiana. Learn more here.

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The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent last month as employers added 223,000 jobs. However, wages still remained mostly unchanged. Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 10,000 last week. The 281,000 total still remains well below the 300,000 historical average. Find out more here.

— Will Buss, BND business writer

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Business Briefing: First Community Bank is now Providence Bank."