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."

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.

More than 350 investors put money into Agility Bank, a de novo minority depository institution that opened in May. It raised nearly $41 million, well surpassing its $30 million goal.

Auto loan growth eased substantially in the second quarter amid competitive pressures from credit unions and other lenders.

Rising interest rates, lower stock prices and other headwinds have caused many banks to pump the brakes on dealmaking. But some are betting that these trends will be too short-lived to deter them from engaging in mergers and acquisitions.

Business owners are seeing their cash flow strained by the highest inflation in 40 years and mounting costs to borrow money.

Increased interest income would boost lending profitability, but only if borrowers are confident enough in the economy to take out loans. And that's just one of the issues hammering banks' shares.

The lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia company's CEO claims an opposing board faction lacks a quorum. Hill seeks to bar the group from reinstalling founder Harry Madonna.

Banking executives and analysts worry that the Federal Reserve's aggressive plan to raise interest rates will be insufficient to tame inflation and overcome economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.