Popular Bank exits mortgage lending
The company cited efforts to improve profitability behind its decision, with Popular joining a line of other banks in ending mortgage operations in 2025.
With problems behind it, Home BancShares preps for a deal
The Arkansas-based company spent nearly four years on the M&A sidelines, grappling with asset quality issues and litigation tied to its 2022 acquisition of Texas-based Happy State Bank. Now it’s signed a letter of intent to buy an unnamed bank.
Execs receive Most Powerful Women in Banking awards at gala
The 23rd annual dinner honored bankers and finance leaders at the top of the industry.
Needham and BankProv receive approvals and merge date
Needham and Provident banks received all regulatory approvals and merge date; JPMorganChase hired veteran tech dealmaker Kevin Brunner from Bank of America; RBC Capital Markets will expand its presence in the equity derivatives market with two senior hires from UBS; and more in this week’s banking news roundup.
U.S. cybersecurity progress is ‘slipping,’ report warns
A think tank report details setbacks in U.S. cyber strategy, from shuttered partnerships and staff cuts to the expiration of key info-sharing laws.
Wisconsin bank makes deal to speed past $10B asset mark
Nicolet Bankshares has agreed to buy MidWestOne Financial in an $864 million, all-stock deal. The acquisition will move the Wisconsin-based buyer into Iowa and the Twin Cities, while also allowing it to vault past a key regulatory threshold.
Zelle’s stablecoin play spurs more questions than answers
Zelle’s parent Early Warning Services said Friday it was planning to take its peer-to-peer payments network international through a new stablecoin initiative. It says the details will come later.
Fed proposal would publish full stress test models
The Federal Reserve Friday issued a set of proposed changes to its stress testing program for the largest banks that would disclose the central bank’s back-end stress testing models, a move that the Fed had long opposed out of fear of making the tests easier for banks to pass.
Shares in Mass. bank drop after talk of more potential M&A
Boston-based Eastern Bankshares is focused on organic growth, but it would “evaluate the opportunity” for M&A if a deal presents itself, its CEO said Friday. The comments came four days after an activist investor criticized the bank’s recent M&A transactions.
Evolve Bank CEO arrested on charges of child exploitation
Robert Hartheimer’s arrest comes at a time when the bank is trying to recover from a consent order and the Synapse mess.