The buyer said the all-stock deal to buy The First Bancshares would create a combined bank with $25 billion of assets.

The Wilmington, North Carolina-based institution is pursuing a model that cuts out the middleman and embeds its services directly into fintech partners' platforms.

Friday's deal for Premier Financial ends a five-year M&A hiatus for the Wheeling, West Virginia-based company while marking its expansion into Michigan.

ChoiceOne Financial Services would pay about $180 million to acquire Fentura Financial in a bid to expand in Detroit's suburbs. The deal would create a bank with more than $4 billion of assets.

The $73.5 million all-stock deal, slated to close early in 2025, would create a bank with more than $3 billion of assets.

Old National Bancorp's earnings remained strong as it continued its expansion into the southeast with its recent $344 billion acquisition of CapStar. Executives said they foresee similar growth for the remainder of the year.

See which bank topped American Banker's annual ranking of the best-performing midsize institutions.

The top-performing banks with between $10 billion and $50 billion of assets boasted relatively strong loan portfolios and expense control.

Congress needs to take immediate action to reform policies that foster this trend and ultimately subsidize banking consolidation on Main Street, writes Rebeca Romero Rainey, president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America.

After its planned sale to a larger competitor fell through, the renamed bank plans to expand into new markets, starting with St. Louis.