Americas

Three years after acquiring Bank of the West, BMO is preparing to open 130 branches in the Golden State, where it thinks it can achieve density and critical mass. The Toronto-based bank also plans to open 15 branches in Arizona.

WesBanco in Wheeling, West Virginia, has hired a team of lenders in South Florida. It plans eventually to open branches in a bid to grab a share of the region's expanding deposit market.

The company has agreed to a 20-year lease for the entire office portion and some retail space at the 51-story property, where it's already the anchor tenant.

A New York state bill would reduce the barrier for minority-bank and community-bank participation in the state's long-standing Banking Development District program.

Dean Bass, who served as CEO at two Houston community banks, plans to acquire Lone Star Bank in a deal expected to close this summer.

The Beaver State is poised to opt out of a federal law that poked a hole in its interest rate cap, joining a growing list of states to reassert their authority over consumer loan rates.

Midland States Bancorp had struggled in 2025 with accounting-related issues and bottom-line losses.

Glen Herrick, a veteran bank director, penned a resignation letter criticizing the West Virginia company's executive-compensation policies and what he described as a failure to focus on core profitability.

The Royal Bank of Canada's base outlook is that tariffs will remain at their current levels. But it also sees a possibility that U.S. trade policy will bring on a severe North American recession.

Acquiring the $386 million-asset Pacific West Bancorp extends a strengthening bull market for bank M&A.