In talks with OCC officials, "it became obvious that we would not gain near-term approval given their recent experience with multifamily and CRE positions," FirstSun CEO Neal Arnold says. The companies announced other revisions to their deal, too.

The company's branches and loan officers will transition to ML Mortgage but operations staff are not part of the deal.

House Republicans held a subcommittee hearing on reforming bank merger M&A, laying the groundwork to counter Biden administration efforts to make it more difficult for mergers to be approved.

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.

Institutions and their investors are facing pressure from climate activists, cautiously awaiting interest rate cuts and adjusting to new Federal Reserve and FDIC policies.

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.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he would like to examine the proposed acquisition on "narrower bases."

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.