Jim Dobbs

Fees from forgiven Paycheck Protection Program loans are providing a short-term lift, but balance sheets are shrinking and it isn't clear what will drive future growth.

M&F Bancorp in North Carolina plans to use some of the $18 million it received from big banks to make overdue improvements to its commercial lending platform.

Acquisition-hungry Stearns Bank has been fielding so many calls from would-be sellers that it has brought in a merger specialist to sort through them.

The Delaware company would remove a rival, gain scale in affluent Philadelphia suburbs and accelerate its transformation from a branch-heavy lender to a digital-first bank with the $976 million acquisition.

“We were already shifting to recruiting more problem solvers than people handling transactions,” said Robert Fisher, CEO of Tioga State Bank in New York and incoming chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America. “That pace of change has accelerated.”

HoldCo Asset Management, which gains two board seats from a standstill agreement, had expressed disappointment that the Boston company hired a CEO instead of pursuing a sale.

Six startups that seek to cater to Black and Hispanic consumers outside the financial mainstream are attracting heavy interest from investors. However, the new banks will vie with megabanks eyeing those same customers and with established minority-owned institutions suddenly brimming with new capital.

Community banks, which for years have relied heavily on commercial real estate lending, have been tightening underwriting standards, conducting more frequent loan reviews and stepping back from certain subsectors to minimize their credit exposure.

Soybean, corn and wheat are trading at their highest levels since 2014, meaning farmers are more likely to catch up on loan payments and pursue expansions that require them to take out more loans.

The founder of Commerce Bank in New Jersey and Metro Bank in the United Kingdom has served as Republic First's chairman since 2016.