Baseball great joins Farmers National team, waiting game ends for two deals and more in banking news this week.

With the final piece of its regulatory puzzle in place, Newtek, a business development company and the nation's No. 3 SBA 7(a) lender, plans to complete its acquisition of National Bank of New York City in January.

Byline Bancorp in Chicago said it would buy Inland Bancorp in a cash-and-stock transaction that would create an $8.5 billion-asset bank.

InBankshares has hired a former PacWest senior executive — its third leader to come from a regional bank — in a move aimed at bringing in the skills necessary to run a much larger institution.

The business development company, one of the top Small Business Administration 7(a) lenders, has been waiting since mid-2021 for regulators to sign off on its deal for a New York community bank. It hopes to get the final green light from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in time for a January closing.

Feeling that your bank is truly there for you is the difference between a bank account and a banking relationship.

Large banks are catching up to regionals and nontraditional institutions in overall reputation scores, but regional banks are winning when it comes to innovation.

Wall Street reporting has left Main Street behind and you, dear banker, should be concerned. A new book, "The Future of Business Journalism," explains why.

The Boston bank is engaged in a three-year endeavor to finance $5 billion to meet the credit needs of underserved communities. "This has to be in your DNA because you cannot fake it," CEO Nitin Mhatre said.

Long-tenured CEO Matthew Wagner intends to retire from the company's top job early in 2023, not at the end of that year as initially planned. Paul Taylor, PacWest's president, will succeed him.

The bank said Monday that its interim president and CFO had resigned. This followed the departure of its previous president earlier in November.

Savarese was drawn to a career in the financial services industry after witnessing firsthand how economic stability can improve the lives of others. She then spent 17 successful years running the Massachusetts mutual.

The bank has agreed to pay $113 million for the $500 million-asset Surrey Bancorp, which specializes in credit for small to midsize commercial clients as well as government-guaranteed loans.

TAB Bank's debit account, which rewards users with partial stock shares, is boosting the company's appeal among consumers who are younger, tech-savvy and underbanked.

The bank postponed its quarterly earnings report and warned of a $27.5 million loss tied to troubles in its digital- asset mining loan portfolio.

Btech Consortium, a partnership between several small banks, a venture capital firm and an asset manager, will identify emerging technologies that meet their members' near-term needs.

Farmers and the bankers who lend to them are increasingly concerned that rising costs will hasten a recession and hamper credit quality in 2023.

Ninety institutions made American Banker's 10th annual list of the Best Banks to Work For. Here are insights about communication, leadership, culture and more from executives at this year's honorees.