Jim Dobbs

The Nashville bank has recruited a veteran commercial lender in Asheville who had worked with First Horizon, and it has hired four more bankers in Chattanooga.

Spiking interest rates, increased regulatory scrutiny, and mounting recession fears have all contributed to a deceleration in mergers in 2022.

The fast-paced rise in rates should be good for banks — until it isn't. The higher interest earned on loan payments will at some point be offset by higher interest paid on deposits. The only questions are: When, and by how much?

Business owners are seeing their cash flow strained by the highest inflation in 40 years and mounting costs to borrow money.

Missouri-based UMB Financial says it would acquire 157,000 accounts across more than 3,000 employer groups from Old National Bancorp in Indiana.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo joined Citigroup in pledging to expand benefits to cover travel for out-of-state abortions. Smaller banks in blue states were more vocal, with one female CEO saying: “I stand in disbelief.”

The $2 billion-asset buyer could gain more than $300 million of deposits in the Magnolia State.

The buyer, which is based in North Carolina, said buying GrandSouth Bancorp would give it more than $1 billion of assets and eight branches in South Carolina.

Most banks’ interest income will rise following the Fed policy shift. But the rate increase also boosts the likelihood of a recession that could hurt borrowers and drive up loan losses.

Credit unions enjoyed especially strong loan demand from car buyers — helping to push overall loan growth to twice the rate of what banks saw in the first quarter — following a lull stemming from pandemic-era setbacks.

Paul Taylor, one of the company's directors, will become president in anticipation of succeeding Matthew Wagner, who has been chief executive for 22 years and plans to retire at the end of 2023.

With household expenses and borrowing costs spiking, banks are bracing for depositors to demand more interest. The only question is how much longer bankers can hold out.

The founders of Integro Bank expect to secure this month the final round of capital needed to open the second startup bank in the state since 2007.

An American Bankers Association panel of experts predicted much slower economic growth, but agreed that the U.S. economy will avoid a recession over the next couple of years.

F.N.B. will beef up its presence in Raleigh and Durham with the acquisition of UB Bancorp.

Increased interest income would boost lending profitability, but only if borrowers are confident enough in the economy to take out loans. And that's just one of the issues hammering banks' shares.

The number of acquisition announcements in April was less than half the level of a year earlier. Experts attribute this to stock market weakness, higher interest rates and elevated regulatory scrutiny.

Cambridge Bancorp in Massachusetts said it would acquire Northmark Bank in a transaction valued at $63 million.

First Northern Community Bancorp Chief Executive Louise Walker said she will hand over the bank’s reins to its chief operating officer at the end of 2022.

Agility Bank, formed to serve local businesses operated by women, plans to launch in late May.