Cincinnati-based First Financial scooped up Westfield Bank near Cleveland after Westfield's parent company decided to exit the bank space and focus on its core insurance business.

Barely two years after adopting a bank charter, NewtekOne in Florida plans to expand beyond its roots as an SBA 7(a) lender by growing its alternative loan program.

The Florida bank plans to expand its solar lending operations while Senate Republicans look to end most tax breaks for clean energy.

New York's attorney general announces MoneyGram will pay a civil fine to settle a lawsuit over its handling of remittance payments; Swedish buy now/pay later lender Klarna is getting into the telecom business; Truist Financial has hired Charles Alston to lead its new nonprofit hospital, higher education and government banking team; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Lipkin, who built Valley National Bancorp from a small community bank into a regional institution with 200 branches in four states, passed away this week at age 84.

The bank's investors hope to see the small community bank in Utah transform and grow into "a minority-owned version of Ally," as board chair Ashley Bell put it.

Automated systems respond poorly when confronted with edge cases and unfamiliar circumstances. But those are exactly the moments when a customer's trust in a bank is either established, or lost forever.

The Trump administration is seeking to fire roughly 90% of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's staff and is fighting for that right in court. But if the administration prevails, can other consumer protection authorities from other federal regulators pick up the slack?