The $7.6 billion deal was originally expected to close in the fourth quarter of last year, but the banks had pushed back their deadline until June. Once the merger is complete, the combined bank will have more than $200 billion in assets.

The deal with HBI Employees Credit Union follows two other mergers Spire struck last year that brought it to $1.9 billion of assets.

The Louisiana-based Barksdale has agreed to purchase HomeBank of Arkansas. It is the fourth deal involving the sale of a bank to a credit union in less than two weeks.

Fintech deals totaled $348.5 billion in 2021. Here are the trends causing the record transaction wave.

The $837 million-asset Commerce State is one of the largest banks ever to agree to be sold to a credit union.

Toronto-Dominion Bank, which earlier this week announced a $13.4 billion acquisition to expand in the U.S., got a lift from loan growth at home.

The $142 million deal would vault the buyer from the 21st-largest bank in Philadelphia to the 12th largest.

TriCo Bancshares said regulators will allow it to finalize its $165.6 million acquisition of Valley Republic. The deal was initially expected to close last year.

LendingClub is resisting pressure from stakeholders to jump into cryptocurrency as it completes a bank acquisition and works to introduce more traditional financial products.

The Columbus, Ohio, bank has agreed to buy an investment banking and advisory firm that caters to midsize companies to "accelerate" the growth of its capital markets unit.

The Canadian banking giant established a nine-month window to finish its $13.4 billion purchase of First Horizon, which could be challenging given the tighter regulatory scrutiny of bank M&A. After November, the price tag will go up.

Robins Financial Credit Union is acquiring the $430 million-asset Persons Banking Co. The deal, announced Monday, comes less than a week after Georgia’s Own Credit Union in Atlanta said it is buying Vinings Bank in Smyrna.

The New York bank said it called off the acquisition of Amalgamated Bank of Chicago because it has been unable to obtain regulatory approval. But the seller expressed hope that the deal could still move forward.

Industry groups are adamant that regulators must make it easier for banks to merge in order to compete with nonbanks, while consumer advocates say bank mergers are too easy and hurt the consumer beyond raising the price of credit.

The $13.4 billion agreement would create a top-six bank in the U.S. by assets and give Toronto-Dominion a large presence in Tennessee and a deeper foothold in the region.

The Boston-area mutual has agreed to acquire Patriot Community Bank, a single-branch lender based in Woburn, Massachusetts.

The M&A surge promises to improve the services fintechs offer to many banks. But it's also creating a new class of full-service competitors.

The Federal Reserve and the FDIC are weighing changes to their policies for reviewing mergers and acquisitions, and that’s creating a sense of urgency among bankers to cinch deals now.

Buying BT Holdings in Texas will take the Louisiana bank close to the size where it would face increased regulatory scrutiny and a reduction in interchange revenue.

The Houston bank negotiated the agreement with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition after closing its merger with BancorpSouth. That deal created a lender with $50 billion of assets and operations in nine states.