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.

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.

A solid majority of decision-makers at these companies expect to expand their workforces again this year, a Citizens Financial survey found. Loan losses are normally low in eras of economic expansion.

With high deposit and borrowing costs persisting amid the Federal Reserve's campaign against inflation, lenders face stress on their net interest margins and the potential of troubled loans ticking up.

First National has agreed to buy Touchstone Bankshares. The combined company would have more than $500 million each of deposits and loans.

Bank mergers and acquisitions have slowed in recent years amid recession fears and other economic uncertainties. But bank consolidation is a century-old trend that's expected to rev up again as early as this year due to higher costs, tougher regulation and fierce competition.

The USDA forecasted farm profits will plunge 26% this year, potentially creating credit quality challenges for lenders.

The deal involving Southern California Bancorp and California BanCorp, expected to close in the third quarter, would form a $4.6 billion-asset lender with a footprint spanning San Diego, Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, Patriot Bank must invest more than $1 million of the total in a loan subsidy fund for minority homeowners and take other corrective steps in its everyday business. The bank denied any wrongdoing.

Funding pressures moderated in recent months, but loan charge-offs climbed. With festering concerns about a vulnerable economy, the potential for elevated credits costs could loom large over the upcoming bank earnings season.

Washington Trust shares plunged after the Westerly, Rhode Island, company disclosed it booked an office deal in the third quarter, boosting the size of its portfolio while other lenders are pulling back.

Despite an industrywide rough patch, EverBank still sees promise in the niche business line. The Jacksonville, Florida, company has hired a pair of prominent industry experts to lead a new division tasked with serving investment funds.

Banking and credit union regulators encouraged compassionate treatment of customers in Hawaii communities hit by wildfires. They also vowed to grant expedited approvals of temporary banking facilities, be flexible in compliance matters and provide other support to financial institutions.

The three former Washington Federal Bank for Savings board members were accused of giving the OCC false information in an attempt to hide embezzlement. They could face up to five years in prison for attempting to deceive the OCC.

The racially targeted mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store in 2022 has renewed conversations about whether banks have a duty to help segregated, impoverished communities that were shaped in part by discriminatory lending practices. What do banks owe the Black community, and what influence could they have?

The American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee said access to loans is likely to further soften, while defaults and credit losses could increase in the second half of the year.

Community banks tapped the brakes during the first quarter, citing higher interest rates, recession threats and fallout from regional-bank failures. Fed data shows the trend has continued into May, and executives are preaching caution.

The Philadelphia-based company will eliminate an undisclosed number of jobs as part of a plan to refocus on core business lines and markets, CEO Thomas Geisel said.

At the embattled Republic First Bancorp, elevated legal, professional and audit fees also contributed to a nearly $10 million in first-quarter loss but CEO Thomas Geisel reports signs of progress moving past "legacy headwinds."