Commercial banking

Chemical is paying roughly $3.6 billion for the $23.5 billion-asset TCF. The combined company will be based in Detroit, Chemical's hometown, and operate under the TCF brand.

The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank predicted a strong year, saying the high-tech and other niches it serves are built to withstand current economic uncertainty.

The Florida company's earnings increased after it completed a big acquisition and produced strong year-over-year loan production.

CEO Greg Carmichael says the Cincinnati bank will hire bankers in Denver, Dallas and Houston as part of a broader expansion into fast-growing markets that are home to lots of midsize firms. It is also interested in buying more fee-based businesses.

Smaller institutions are booking loans at a faster clip than bigger lenders, raising concerns that they are relaxing standards in order to win business.

The acquisition of VAR Technology Finance bolsters the bank's efforts to expand into new areas of lending.

The New York company added eight new client teams in 2018 and established a new division that caters to private equity firms on both coasts.

The nation’s fifth-largest bank now has the financial flexibility to consolidate more branches in existing markets and open new, smaller ones in cities where it has no retail presence, CEO Andy Cecere said.

The Dallas company beat earnings estimates even as it reported declines in deposits, total loans and fee income.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., owner of one of Wall Street’s top dealmaking franchises, leaned on that business last quarter to overcome an industrywide downturn in fixed-income trading.