Webster Financial in Waterbury, Conn., reported lower first-quarter profit as costs from adding personnel and an acquisition weighed on results.

Strategic acquisitions in payments and investment banking helped the Cleveland company absorb compressed margins and lackluster results elsewhere. Management also vowed to keep cutting costs, including ongoing efforts to pare back its branch network.

Wintrust Financial in Rosemont, Ill., reported first-quarter earnings of $39.1 million, up 13% from a year earlier, as loans increased and mortgage revenue rose.

Home BancShares in Conway, Ark., reported higher first-quarter profit and assets after it acquired branches and loans from the failed Doral Bank in Puerto Rico.

PacWest Bancorp reported higher quarterly profit, as loan growth and lower expenses offset credit issues in the Los Angeles company's energy portfolio.

BBVA has acquired San Francisco user-experience firm Spring Studio, in a bid to improve the look and feel of its digital banking services.

First Dakota National Bank in Yankton, S.D., has agreed to buy a branch from HF Financial in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Heartland Financial in Dubuque, Iowa, has agreed to buy Community Bancorp. of New Mexico in Santa Fe.

Some industry observers argue that bank consolidation is driven by economies of scale rather than by the regulatory burdens imposed under Dodd-Frank. But the two factors actually go hand in hand.

Hamilton Bancorp in Towson, Md., has agreed to buy Fairmount Bancorp in Baltimore.

Goldman Sachs Group reported first-quarter earnings that beat analysts' estimates as the firm posted a bigger increase in revenue from trading debt, commodities and currencies than its rivals and the highest merger-advisory revenue since the financial crisis.

Umpqua Holdings in Portland, Ore., posted lower profit from a quarter earlier, largely reflecting a decline in net interest income.

Security California Bancorp in Riverside, Calif., has agreed to buy a branch from Rabobank.

IF Bancorp in Watseka, Ill., has selected the successor for its retiring president and chief executive.

A breakdown of M&A announcements in the financial services industry for the week ended April 11.

LendKey, a white-label marketplace lender that partners with credit unions and community banks, has reached a deal to sell MidCap Financial up to $1 billion in student-consolidation loans.

Bank of the Ozarks could raise more capital, especially if a rising number of unfunded loans convert to funded credits. Management is also keeping an eye on credit quality, raising certain standards and selling some syndicated loans.

Hudson City Bancorp faces a U.S. government investigation into discriminatory lending practices, according to two people familiar with the matter, posing a potential new hurdle in the bank's long-delayed sale to M&T Bank Corp.

Boston Private Financial Holdings and its bank have shuffled some key executive posts.

Orchard Platform, an analytics firm that pairs institutional investors with marketplace lending platforms, has launched an investment-manager database