John Reosti

While branch closings remain the norm throughout the industry, the hunt for suddenly scarce deposits is prompting some community banks to move in the opposite direction and expand their branch networks.

The custody giant benefited from rising interest rates, which helped offset choppy financial markets and a decline in fee income.

Cleveland-based KeyCorp posts a subdued profit in the wake of a loan loss provision that was more than six times greater than the level of fourth-quarter net charge-offs.

The New York bank reported a 17% drop-off in deposits during the fourth quarter as it sought to reduce its concentration in the digital currency realm. It expects its balance sheet to stabilize in the second half of 2023.

Robin Vince, who took the helm in September, said the world's largest custody bank has delivered disappointing results over the past decade, including in 2022, when he said it failed to control costs effectively.

AmeriServ Financial in Johnstown boosted earnings through the first nine months of 2022, but not enough to satisfy Abbott Cooper, who called the company a "prolonged underperformer."

The bank hired an executive from The Bancorp to manage its risk operations after the incumbent, Jeff Curry, announced his retirement.

The Tupelo, Mississippi-based institution hasn't made a bank deal since 2018, but it has acquired two asset-based lenders in the past 10 months.

The California bank, which owns the technology underlying the Diem stablecoin from Meta, said its deposits plunged 68% in the fourth quarter but that it has more than enough cash on hand to weather the storm.

The Mississippi bank would take a big hit to capital and income but avoid the risk of a bigger payout from a guilty verdict in litigation against banks that did business with Allen Stanford's disgraced financial empire.