Starling Bank Ltd. is weighing plans for a fresh funding round that could value the U.K. challenger at around 2.5 billion pounds ($3.4 billion), according to people familiar with the matter.

The Chicago bank, which is being acquired by Old National Bancorp, agreed to pay roughly $250,000 under an agreement with the Federal Reserve.

The $650 million deal would add services for financial institutions seeking a faster path to upgrade their technology.

The March hearing, to be hosted jointly by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is coming at a time when lawmakers and community groups are pressing federal agencies to apply more scrutiny to bank mergers.

The combined organization would have more than $3.6 billion of assets and a few dozen branches in Georgia.

The Indiana bank announced a five-year, $8.3 billion agreement with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in connection with its acquisition of First Midwest Bancorp. The Federal Reserve approved the purchase last month.

The combination of the Bay Area credit unions creates an institution with nearly 50,000 members.

January was a quiet month for traditional bank mergers and acquisitions, but some big-name firms still struck big deals. Here's a look back at the month's most noteworthy deals.

The bank technology provider Amount has acquired Linear Financial Technologies to supplement its consumer and buy now/pay later offerings with digital small-business loans.

Six weeks after receiving a $237.5 million investment from the Treasury Department, the community development financial institution has struck a deal for Premier Bank of Arkansas.

JPMorgan Chase is selling Bighorn Permian Resources, an oil and gas producer it took over in 2020 after the company failed to attract bidders during its bankruptcy, to Earthstone Energy for $860 million.

Executives said record-high commercial loan commitments in the fourth quarter validate the San Antonio bank’s decision to open more than two dozen branches in Houston and pursue a similar path in Dallas.

DBS Group Holdings agreed to buy Citigroup’s consumer banking assets in Taiwan, as Southeast Asia’s largest lender pushes ahead with plans to boost its regional presence.

The merger, which was initially expected to be approved last year, will create one of the 10 largest banks across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Multifamily and specialty finance loans, which were highlights during the fourth quarter, should increase further in 2022, company executives said.

UBS agreed to buy the U.S. robo advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash, the first major acquisition of a fintech company under Chief Executive Ralph Hamers.

Acquiring the earned-wage-access firm and challenger bank would further efforts by the retailer and its partners to develop a "super app" featuring mobile financial tools.

Goldsmith, the grandson of City National Bank’s co-founder, is set to retire as its chairman. In an interview, he betrayed no regrets about the company’s sale to Royal Bank of Canada, which was propelled by a similar logic about the need for scale that drives many deals today.

Wells Fargo is considering a sale of its minority stake in a Hong Kong lender, as the U.S. bank continues to unload assets as part of a turnaround plan, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

The announcement marks JPMorgan’s first deal in 2022, on the heels of its most prolific year for buying and taking stakes in smaller firms since at least the financial crisis.