Jim Dobbs

The Boston bank is engaged in a three-year endeavor to finance $5 billion to meet the credit needs of underserved communities. "This has to be in your DNA because you cannot fake it," CEO Nitin Mhatre said.

Long-tenured CEO Matthew Wagner intends to retire from the company's top job early in 2023, not at the end of that year as initially planned. Paul Taylor, PacWest's president, will succeed him.

The bank said Monday that its interim president and CFO had resigned. This followed the departure of its previous president earlier in November.

The bank has agreed to pay $113 million for the $500 million-asset Surrey Bancorp, which specializes in credit for small to midsize commercial clients as well as government-guaranteed loans.

The bank postponed its quarterly earnings report and warned of a $27.5 million loss tied to troubles in its digital- asset mining loan portfolio.

Farmers and the bankers who lend to them are increasingly concerned that rising costs will hasten a recession and hamper credit quality in 2023.

Highly acquisitive banks that pack on assets without sacrificing employee morale pepper American Banker's annual Best Banks to Work For rankings.

The Seattle bank's all-stock deal for Luther Burbank Corp. is expected to close as soon as the second quarter of 2023.

Savanna-Thomson State Bank in Illinois has agreed to buy Fidelity Bank in Iowa and says it expects to complete the acquisition early next year.

The $186 million deal, announced in November 2021, was originally expected to close in the first half of this year. "The environment for M&A is just more challenging," an OceanFirst executive says.