With the $7.5 billion acquisition, the Minneapolis bank bolstered its customer base in the nation's most populous state by more than 1 million. Earnings accretion from the combination could offset slower loan growth this year.

The loan-growth projections are for Columbia Banking System itself, before the Tacoma, Washington, bank officially merges with Umpqua Holdings. The $5 billion deal is scheduled to close Feb. 28.

The company settled with the Federal Reserve after self-reporting that it had disbursed $1.1 million in wrongfully obtained Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Six Wall Street banks are being pressed by a group of shareholders to move faster on reducing their financing of fossil fuels to meet global climate goals.

Unrelenting pressure to improve efficiency could keep bank merger activity steady or even accelerate it despite several economic and regulatory factors except for one — credit quality, say two veteran Piper Sandler dealmakers.

The Dallas-based company says noninterest expenses should grow by low double digits in 2023 now that the bulk of the investments related to its business transformation have been incurred.

The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, which has been mired in deposit challenges, expects little near-term change in the deployment of venture capital dollars, which executives say will keep putting pressure on SVB's balance sheet.