Seven of the 20 top-performing banks with $2 billion to $10 billion of assets last year were based in Texas. But it's not about being bigger.

Banks that kept a lid on their cost of funds managed to outperform their peers, illustrating the fact that 2024 was a defensive year for the industry.

First Northwest Bancorp is parting ways with CEO Matt Deines "by mutual agreement," the Port Angeles, Washington-based company said. Deines' departure comes a month after a hedge fund sued, alleging the lender was complicit in a Ponzi scheme.

The digital bank had previously notified about 1,000 business customers that they would lose access to their debit cards for a week, amid a systems update.

The U.K. fintech has launched a series of products that expand on its core payments business and compete with banks and other payment technology firms.

Bill Martin, a real estate developer and athletics executive who founded the community bank in 1996, said he considers the privately held institution to be "like one of my kids."

The digital bank is also partnering with two pro pickleball leagues to court fans through a consistent presence at tournaments later this year.

Stablecoins are already disrupting traditional finance and have the potential to eat away at banks' deposit base. Banks should be looking for ways to turn this emerging threat into an opportunity.

Business First Bancshares CEO Jude Melville and Progressive Bancorp head George Cummings are both second-generation bank CEOs — common ground that helped propel an $83 million merger deal.

The bank worked with Atomic to embed the digital payroll deposit manager into its mobile banking app.