Jim Dobbs

The Pacific Northwest bank said Robert Butterfield would replace veteran finance chief Peter Conner, who plans to retire this year.

Questions about the durability of community banks' customer bases and funding costs could dominate first-quarter earnings calls following the downfalls of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Lenders had started tightening as early as the fourth quarter in anticipation of a possible recession. Now, the banking crisis is driving community and regional banks in particular to hit the brakes harder, stoking renewed recessions fears.

With the acquisitions of CIT Group and a large portion of the failed Silicon Valley Bank, the North Carolina company has doubled in size for the second time in a little more than a year and joined the class of super regionals.

The combined bank would have more than $8 billion of assets. The acquisition counters a trend of slowed merger activity amid regulatory pressure and an ongoing banking industry crisis.

On top of recession fears and elevated regulatory scrutiny, worry about the banking industry's weakness could delay the approval of mergers such as Toronto-Dominion Bank's pending acquisition of First Horizon.

The company agreed to pay $27.2 million in restitution to shareholders and revised its 2022 earnings to show a steep loss. The plea agreement with the Department of Justice was tied to Sterling's now defunct low-documentation mortgage program.

1831 Bancorp and South Shore Bancorp plan to join forces to bolster their collective resources and competitive standing in New England's largest market.

Analysts are increasingly focused on rising office property vacancy rates, driven by remote-work trends and higher costs of living. They are worried that cash-strapped landlords could default on loans and cause losses in banks' CRE portfolios.

Community lenders do not share the problems that led to the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — but their customers and members don't always know that.

The upstate New York company said in a regulatory filing that Daniel Reininga, who has been chief executive for 12 years, will retire on March 10, following a cybersecurity attack and an OCC crackdown.

Robert Hill Jr., who had been CEO of the company before it merged with CenterState Bank in 2020, will resign in April. The company says it's replacing his position with a nonexecutive chairman "as part of a broader, ongoing effort to enhance the independence of the company's board."

The specter of an economic downturn looms, but many companies are still in growth mode, according to Donald McCree, head of commercial banking at the Rhode Island bank. "We continue to hear from a lot of companies that they are doing quite well," he said.

The company has agreed to acquire the parent of Peoples Bank in a deal expected to close in the third quarter.

A Piper Sandler survey of CEOs found a majority expect to expand their balance sheets this year. They also foresee increases in nonperforming credits, with office loans a key area of weakness, as well as heightened pressure on net interest margins.

The Maryland bank is merging with Linkbancorp in a nearly $168 million deal that would create a $3 billion-asset company. The transaction comes just months after OceanFirst Financial and Partners nixed their merger plan, citing regulatory delays.

Buckeye State Bancshares near Columbus said it would buy cross-state rival Rockhold Bancshares. Only six such deals were announced in January, making it the slowest first month of a year for M&A since the financial crisis.

Brady Torgerson, former president of First Security Bank-West, was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud at two banks.

Banks expect strong global consumption of U.S. oil and gas, driven in part by the supply strain that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In the aftermath of Louisiana's largest bank failure, Ashton Ryan Jr. was convicted on all 46 counts against him. U.S. Attorney Duane Evans called the case a "theft of epic proportions."