Jim Dobbs

James Blake plans to retire in May, culminating a 25-year run at the helm. Joseph Casey, the bank's president, was named his successor.

Costs climbed 11% in the fourth quarter, but the Georgia company says it remains on track to generate $175 million by the end of this year through a combination of expense cuts and revenue enhancements.

Customers are ramping up borrowing just as interest rates are poised to rise. That combination “sets us up nicely for 2022,” says CEO Brian Moynihan.

The economic and political conditions are in place for bank-credit union mergers to blow past last year's total of 13 despite the banking industry's strong opposition to them.

The companies originally hoped to complete the deal in late 2021. The buyer chalked up the delay to an overburdened Federal Reserve, rather than any problems with its application.

The New York bank attributed the gains to its aggressive hiring of banking teams on both coasts and robust loan demand from private equity and venture capital firms.

The Louisiana-based company is among a growing number of community banks that have taken on new talent in the wake of competitors' consolidation.

Some community banks and credit unions worry that by hiring out-of-state workers to fill their many job openings, as other employers have done, they could erode community ties.

The last three months of 2021 were strong for most lenders, which will report results soon. But the outlook for the coming months has been clouded by the spread of the newest coronavirus variant, which has many banks grappling with staffing shortages and branch restrictions.

The new business line is part of a broader expansion plan the Pennsylvania bank announced in 2021.