The Federal Reserve Board signed off on Provident Financial Services' acquisition of Lakeland Bancorp. The newly combined bank will be the seventh largest in the state.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that he would like to examine the proposed acquisition on "narrower bases."

Any approval of the proposed Capital One-Discover merger must come with a pro-competitive 1% interchange fee condition to benefit consumers and small businesses and challenge the dominating duopolist Visa, and a pro-community 5% deposit reinvestment condition.

Based on the pace of deals through late March, the banking industry is on track for the most branch sales since 2021. Buyer interest has mounted alongside the need to acquire deposits, following hits to funding bases last year.

The federal agency's director said Wednesday that regulators were working to refocus bank merger evaluations on community impact.

Banking regulators and the Department of Justice must decide whether the blockbuster deal raises antitrust concerns. Looming over their analyses are questions about how broadly or narrowly to define the relevant markets.

Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares said it closed its purchase of Lone Star State Bancshares about a year later than initially planned.

The Evansville, Indiana bank named an interim chief financial officer after Brendon Falconer was charged with child molestation.

Mergers have left Virginia without an independent statewide financial institution. Atlantic Union CEO John Asbury is trying to change that.

Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.