Banking

Consolidation has slowed since the pandemic, but UMB's agreement to buy Heartland Financial — the largest deal in three years — is one of several merger announcements in the past two weeks. Talks among other potential buyers and sellers are said to be picking up.

The Philadelphia-based bank's parent company, Republic First Bancshares, had been roiled by a yearslong proxy battle involving activist investors groups and its former CEO.

Lendbuzz sells the notes as it juggles mixed performance results from 2023. Originations and revenues saw huge jumps, but so did operating expenses.

After several quarters of slumping investment banking and trading fees, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company reported a big uptick from that division, which helped compensate for a large decline in net interest income.

The return of the higher-for-longer mantra is a headache for insurance companies and pension plans which, flush with cash, sent demand for bonds soaring this year.

Net charge-offs at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased by more than 80% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. BofA executives say that the rising losses were in line with the bank's risk appetite.

Should the all-stock transaction close as planned later this year, Wintrust Financial in the Chicago area would gain about $2.7 billion of assets.

The current levels of credit enhancement are a reduction from levels of 58.0%, 48.7%, 35.9%, 22.5% and 17% on the classes A, B, C, D and E on the BLAST 2024-1 deal.

First-quarter results at the companies were promising for other banks looking to reel in fees from capital markets activities as deposit costs put pressure on net interest income.

The financing outlook improved from recent surveys on a macro basis, but expectations around commercial real estate helped cloud over the credit forecast.