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Despite the continuing trends of consolidation and limited startup activity, bankers and industry insiders say there is a path forward. But small lenders must evolve with changing technology.

The five largest bank M&A deals had an average deal value of more than $1.2 billion.

Graham Steele, formerly the assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department, laid out a detailed bank regulatory reform agenda for future progressive policymakers to consider that includes rolling bank Trump administration-era tailoring rules and accounting for the increased digitization of the banking system.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based regional bank said it is making progress on its pending purchase of Heartland Financial USA in Denver. The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2025.

The Federal Reserve chair said Fed researchers continue to explore central bank digital currencies to stay current on international payments developments, but emphatically denied that the central bank is considering creating one of its own.

The proposal is "significantly flawed" in its approach to corporate governance, the lawmakers said.

The London challenger bank has added deposits in an effort to keep customers from using banks and other fintechs; the Australian bank Westpac is offering cards to kids as young as 8; and more in our global payments and fintech roundup.

In addition to a new rule enabling more active review of large asset managers acquiring shares in FDIC-supervised banks, the FDIC board finalized living will guidance and requested public input on deposits.

The banking holding company's new type of private security, launched last year, also reached $3 billion in loans sold last month.

In this month's roundup of top banking news, how the widespread CrowdStrike outage affected banks of all sizes, JPMorgan Chase's new tech bet for combating rising fraud, what Project 2025 could mean for bankers and more.