The largest bank M&A deals are now the fastest to close

• Key insight: Bank M&A deals with the largest value are closing much faster this year than they did two years ago, according to an analyst's research report.
  
• Supporting data: So far this year, it's taken just an average of just 126 days to close an M&A deal valued at $500 million or more, the report said.
  
• Forward look: Three bank M&A deals announced earlier this year and valued above $500 million will likely take longer than 126 days to close, which could affect the full-year average.

Two years ago, the largest bank mergers and acquisitions by value took, on average, more than a year to close, much longer than smaller deals. In a sharp reversal, the biggest deals are now taking the fewest days to be finalized, according to a research report from Brean Capital.

Year to date, the average time to close a deal valued at $500 million or more is a mere 126 days, per the report from Brean Capital analyst Brian Martin. That's nearly one-third of the time that deals in that size category took to close in 2024, when the average number of days was 369, the report said. And it's far fewer than the 211 days it took for such deals to close in 2025. 

The shift reflects a favorable regulatory environment under the second Trump administration, which has reinstated previous merger standards and allowed for expedited merger reviews. During the Biden administration, bank M&A deals, especially large ones, faced heavy scrutiny. 

"The regulatory environment has become friendlier under the new administration," Martin told American Banker. The largest deals are now "clearly mirroring the smaller deals," he added.

The list of large deals that closed this year includes many that were announced last year. Pinnacle Financial completed its acquisition of Synovus Financial in early January, 161 days after the merger of equals was announced. Fifth Third Bancorp, which announced its acquisition of Comerica in early October, finalized that deal on Feb. 1.

No matter the size, bank deals so far this year are being completed in fewer days, continuing a trend that emerged in the middle of last year. On average, deals valued between $100 million and $500 million are closing in 130 days, equivalent to about four-and-a-half months, compared with an average 223 days in 2024 and an average 173 days in 2025, the Brean Capital report said.

Deals valued at $50 million to $100 million are closing at 159 days on average, while the smallest deals, those under $50 million, are taking about 161 days to close, the report said.

The data excludes deals that did not disclose a deal value, and it also excludes transactions in which banks were acquired by credit unions, Martin said. The information is based on Brean Capital's own research as well as data from S&P Capital IQ.

Last year, bank M&A activity accelerated for the first time since 2021, with a total deal volume of $50.5 billion, according to a recent research report by Laurie Havener Hunsicker, an analyst at Seaport Research Partners. That was far ahead of 2024's total deal volume of $16.5 billion.

The aggregate deal value so far this year is $17 billion, according to the Brean Capital report.

In total, 58 bank M&A deals have been announced so far this year, the firm found. Of those 58, eight have already closed, averaging 84 days from the time of announcement to the closure date, and with an average seller size of $350 million in assets, the report said. 

Still to be seen is whether the average days to close will increase or decrease as the year goes on. Three of the largest deals announced this year have not yet closed — and likely won't be completed within 126 days.

Those transactions include Spanish banking giant Banco Santander's pending $12.3 billion acquisition of Connecticut-based Webster Financial, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, and Houston-based Prosperity Bancshares' plan to buy its crosstown rival, Stellar Bancorp, for $2 billion, a tie-up that would create the second-largest Texas-based bank.

Banco Santander, which announced the Webster deal about 113 days ago, expects to finalize the Webster transaction during the second half of this year. Prosperity, which announced the Stellar transaction in January or about 120 days ago, expects to close the deal on July 1.

The $500 million-plus deal list this year also includes Columbia Financial's proposed acquisition of Northfield Bancorp. Fair Lawn, New Jersey-based Columbia announced in February that it was planning to pay $597 million for Northfield, which operates in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Northern New Jersey. 

The deal, which was announced about 114 days ago, is expected to close during the third quarter, the two banks said in the press release about the merger.