Richmond, Virginia-based Atlantic Union Bankshares has sold $2 billion in performing commercial real estate loans to Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies. 

Lenders have been an underdog in the broader market's rally. Now, with stress-test results and the easing of bank capital rules on the horizon, there's a chance for bank stocks to break out.

The prolific purchaser is entering the state in a bid to expand its Southwest presence.

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.

The Cincinnati bank aims to grow in northeast Ohio with the acquisition of Westfield. The deal is expected to boost First Financial to a $20.6 billion institution.

The CEOs of Bank of New York Mellon and Northern Trust have had at least one discussion about a potential merger, according to a Wall Street Journal article. On Monday, a spokesperson for Northern Trust said the bank "is fully committed to remaining independent."

President Donald Trump has signed a Congressional Review Act resolution that eliminates the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's Biden-era rules requiring stricter reviews of bank mergers and a time-out clock for some institutions.

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.

Even as unpredictable trade policies slowed down mergers in other sectors, banks have kept inking M&A deals at the same pace, according to a new report.

Commerce Bancshares agreed to pay around $585 million to acquire FineMark Holdings. It's the Missouri bank's first bank deal in 12 years.

Some banks hope to use M&A as a way to play defense, either because they need to shore up their deposits or because they have aging CEOs and are looking for an exit. But investors aren't wild about the deal math.

NB Bancorp's deal for Provident Bancorp is the fourth announced in the Bay State since December. It comes nearly three years after bad crypto mining loans led to massive losses at Provident.

Bethany Corum succeeds Tom Barron as president of Capital City Bank; Independent Bank Corp. plans to finalize purchase of in-state rival, Enterprise Bancorp; Customers Bank taps Mark McCollom to take over as chief financial officer; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Richard Fairbank will receive the restricted stock units in recognition of his work related to the integration of Discover into Capital One, the company disclosed.

Some Wall Street investors are beginning to doubt whether the harshest outcomes of President Trump's tariff threats will materialize. But in the absence of certainty, banks still face real challenges in M&A and long-term strategy.

The CEOs of smaller regional banks received fatter bonuses last year than their big-bank counterparts, possibly thanks to low performance expectations at the smaller banks after the 2023 banking crisis.

The Florida bank plans to buy Villages Bancorp for $710.8 million, marking its second in-state acquisition of 2025.

Maryland passes legislation to oversee the earned wage access industry; Truist Financial adds ex-Morgan Stanley Finance Chief Jonathan Pruzan to its board; The Citizens Bank agrees to buy a First Capital Bank branch in North Carolina; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

What if the guiding narrative of 2,000 years of human history was a slow march toward the worship of money? A new book by Paul Vigna argues that we could fix this problem if we declared an old-fashioned jubilee and simply erased all debts.