Ten months after the Raleigh, North Carolina, company acquired a large chunk of Silicon Valley Bank, it says it is seeing good progress in keeping and winning back the latter's former customers. But the ongoing slowdown in private equity and venture capital activity will challenge the unit's growth.

National Bankshares in Virginia agrees to acquire in-state peer, Advia Credit Union in Kalamazoo strikes deal with Illinois bank, EBANX's annual Beyond Borders study launches and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

The Los Angeles company has sold $6 billion of loans and securities since buying PacWest in November. CEO Jared Wolff said it might get smaller still as it strives to boost profitability.

John Watt, 65, will step down in May after more than seven years as president and CEO of NBT Bancorp in Norwich, New York. The plethora of internal candidates to succeed him made the decision a no-brainer, Watt says.

The Tennessee-based bank was forced to keep operating on its own after a proposed acquisition was called off. Months later, First Horizon has picked up new customers and improved its profitability, but investors remain cautious amid plans for catch-up spending on technology.

The Indiana bank is "on offense by continuing to invest in new client-facing and key support talent and being ready and opportunistic for acquisitions," CEO Jim Ryan says.

Investors drove up the stock prices of both companies after Ally Financial said it's selling its point-of-sale lending business to Synchrony Financial. The deal is expected to help Ally focus on its bread-and-butter auto lending business, while also aiding Synchrony's efforts to gain market share.

Centra Credit Union in Columbus, Indiana — which completed a merger with NorthPark Community Credit Union this month — has agreed to absorb Hoosier Hills Credit Union. The latest deal would create a $3 billion-asset institution.

The Seattle bank's stock price fell in 2023 amid concerns over rising interest rates and its concentration of multifamily loans. The buyer is FirstSun Capital Bancorp, which raised $175 million as part of the deal.

Surging interest rates, recession threats and weaker stock valuations bogged down merger-and-acquisition activity last year. The 98 announced deals fell short of even 2020, when the pandemic briefly brought the economy to a standstill.

Hudson Valley Credit Union, which has $6.9 billion of assets, is buying Catskill Hudson Bancorp, which has $593 million of assets — more than any bank acquired by a credit union last year.

As the CEO of First Union Bank, Crutchfield struck more than 80 deals, riding the consolidation wave of the 1980s and 1990s. When he retired, First Union was the sixth largest bank in the country.

Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Arkansas, plans to put $250 million in equity capital it received from the Treasury Department to good use making mortgages and acquiring banks.

After announcing a deal to buy the entirety of SunSouth Bank in Dothan last year, All In now plans to take over another bank's branches in Brewton, Clayton, Eufaula, Geneva and Louisville.

Banks' sales of insurance agencies for eye-popping multiples emerged as one 2023's notable trends. Though the bandwagon shows no sign of slowing, several prominent community banks appear to be holding on to their insurance operations.

Credit unions have announced 11 deals for banks so far in 2023, five short of 2022's total.

After a year marred by the biggest US bank failures since the 2008 financial crisis, the nation's largest lender is on familiar footing — scooping up a rival, reeling in its clients and minting record profits along the way.

Overall merger-and-acquisition activity proved modest across the banking sector, but several prominent deals were reached. Read on for details of the year's biggest transactions.

The deadline for a $28 million deal between Bancorp 34 and CBOA Financial was pushed later into 2024 after Bancorp 34, the buyer, announced it would restate third-quarter results to reflect a significant loss tied to a worsening commercial real estate credit.

Banks large and small are selling some or all of their insurance subsidiaries, enticed by the high prices they're being offered. Here's a rundown of the deals that were struck in 2023.