Some lenders are issuing debt and preferred stock to provide an extra buffer for credit losses. Others are preparing for growth opportunities.

The $43 billion deal was one of a series of payment mergers in 2019 that were designed to combine bank technology and merchant acquiring across multiple markets and industries while warding off ascendant fintechs offering fast access to digital payments and working capital.

Nicolet Bankshares said its lagging stock price would complicate efforts to complete its planned purchase of Commerce Financial.

The Pittsburgh company’s sale of its stake in the asset manager yielded billions of dollars that could cushion the pandemic’s economic blow and eventually help fund a big acquisition.

Complaints to the CFPB hit an all-time high, with mortgage servicers getting much of the fire; Frank Bisignano details his priorities as Fiserv’s new CEO; lenders worry they could be stuck with billions in Paycheck Protection Program loans; and more from this week’s most-read stories.

The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the world’s travel industry and fatally crippled a deal calling for the Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte to buy 20% of American Express Global Business Travel, according to unsealed lawsuits.

The regional wants to “play offense” with the proceeds of its $17 billion BlackRock stake; shares of some bank shares jumped 6% Thursday but remain well behind the rest of the market.

The Iowa company said Brent Giles, who was CEO of a bank that was recently sold, will run its Wisconsin Bank & Trust.

The merger between the two Corpus Christi, Texas-based institutions is expected to close this summer.

More write-downs seem inevitable as the coronavirus outbreak wreaks havoc on the economy and bank stocks.

Suncoast Credit Union and Apollo Bank said the pandemic complicated their efforts to secure regulatory approval.

Suncoast Credit Union and Apollo Bank have called off their plans to merge.

C&NW Proviso, which has no website or online services, will gain a slate of new products and additional locations from the deal.

The regional bank’s $240 million investment from 1995 is now worth $17 billion, which it could use to fund acquisitions; the debt deal will count towards the German bank’s capital buffers.

The Pittsburgh company has owned a 22% position in the money manager since 1995.

Carlyle Group Inc. and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd. are backing out of a deal to buy a stake in American Express Global Business Travel, which has suffered losses from the Covid-19 pandemic.

When Fiserv purchased First Data in 2019, it was part of an industrywide push to combine bank and merchant technology under one roof. A year later, a key piece of First Data’s technology — and its top executive — have become Fiserv’s path through the coronavirus crisis.

Members of West York Area School District Employees Federal Credit Union approved the merger into First Capital, and the deal is expected to close this summer.

Bisignano, who engineered a technology-driven recovery at First Data before it was acquired by Fiserv last year, will take Fiserv's top job as the company forges its coronavirus strategy.

Local 229 IBEW Federal Credit Union, which had less than $2 million in assets, has merged into White Rose Credit Union.