Cadence Bancorporation executives were forced to table their initial public offering for more than two years as they waited for oil prices to stabilize and the market to improve. Stabilized oil prices are helping banks locally, and rising interest rates and hopes of reduced regulations have boosted bank stocks across the country. Bass said being a publicly traded bank makes Cadence more attractive when buying other banks, and he expects it will be active in the merger-and-acquisition market. [...] the largest portion of its energy exposure is to customers in the midstream sector, and he said that segment of its loan portfolio has reported zero net losses in the past five years. There has been stress - and some losses - for loans in the exploration and production and the oilfield services segments, he said, though that exposure has been manageable. Jacob Thompson, Dallas-based managing director for SAMCO Capital Markets, said smart, sophisticated investors are going to ask any company in Texas, Oklahoma or along the Gulf Coast about energy.