Indexes show heightened expectations for a recession and souring loans. But executives are upbeat about middle-market businesses and overall job growth.

Members of the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee expect gross domestic product to stall in 2023. Other surveys show a modest contraction. Lenders say sentiment among their borrowers also points to a slight slowdown.

Dicier credit conditions, recession fears and tougher regulatory scrutiny combined to weaken merger activity in 2022. A push for scale is bound to resume when interest rates level off — at least among smaller banks, analysts say.

In a new survey, executives at banks and credit unions registered the highest level of anxiety about a forthcoming data-collection rule in small-business lending.

Kearny Financial is partially restructuring its balance sheet in response to a problem that many banks are facing. The bank's actions should result in a sizeable income boost once they're fully phased in, an analyst said.

Roughly 40,000 residents of Moore County have been left without power since Saturday, when gunfire damaged two substations. Financial institutions are urging residents to use online banking and call centers if they do not have access to a branch.

The Pittsburgh-based parent of First National Bank of Pennsylvania plans to close its $117 million buyout of UB Bancorp in December.

Taichung Commercial Bank said it would pay $82.1 million to buy American Continental Bancorp in suburban Los Angeles.

The same day Provident Financial Services announced it had agreed to buy Lakeland for $1.3 billion, the seller disclosed an ongoing fair-lending investigation by the Justice Department. Provident said it has "not heard anything" that would give it pause.

The all-stock acquisition of Lakeland Bancorp, expected to close in the second quarter of 2023, would create a combined bank with more than $25 billion of assets.