Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has agreed to acquire Sabine State Bank and Trust in Louisiana to raise its profile in the oil-and-gas industry. The deal coincides with record levels of U.S. drilling this year.

Consolidation has slowed since the pandemic, but UMB's agreement to buy Heartland Financial — the largest deal in three years — is one of several merger announcements in the past two weeks. Talks among other potential buyers and sellers are said to be picking up.

The Los Angeles-based company, which focuses on Korean Americans, said the acquisition of Territorial Bancorp will allow it to expand its customer base.

The first bank failure of 2024 will result in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Fulton nearly doubling deposits in Philadelphia, a market it has viewed as strategically important for several years.

Isabel Casillas Guzman, administrator of the Small Business Administration, wants the agency to get involved in direct lending, a practice that was discontinued during the Clinton administration. Congress has not embraced the idea, to put it mildly.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is arguing that Colorado has the right to establish an interest rate cap that all state-chartered banks must follow. Three industry groups are suing the state in an effort to stop its attempted crackdown.

The Philadelphia-based bank's parent company, Republic First Bancshares, had been roiled by a yearslong proxy battle involving activist investors groups and its former CEO.

The Wisconsin banking company forecasted loan growth of 4% to 6% for the full year, driven by an expansion into new commercial and consumer credit lines as well as enduring economic strength in the Midwest.

Liberty Bank in Salt Lake City had been "structurally unprofitable" since 2008, according to its regulators. Experts criticized the FDIC for allowing the bank's demise to play out in slow motion.

The Jackson, Mississippi, company will use proceeds from the sale of its Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance unit to restructure its investment portfolio, moving $1.6 billion of low-yield securities off the balance sheet.

Brendon Falconer, finance chief of the Indiana company since 2019, faces felony child molestation charges. But CEO James Ryan says management is focused on the CapStar integration and organic growth.

As recently as a few months ago, many observers predicted a surge of bank mergers this year. But longtime obstacles to dealmaking are still there and have been joined by new ones.

The Office of the Attorney General in New York says the bank violated the state's Exempt Income Protection Act, illegally transferring customers' money to debt collectors.

Should the all-stock transaction close as planned later this year, Wintrust Financial in the Chicago area would gain about $2.7 billion of assets.

Launched last July, FedNow had enrolled more than 600 participants by mid-March, according to government officials. That marked a 100% increase from the start of the year, with more banks and credit unions viewing fast payments capabilities as essential. Fraud concerns linger, however.

The beleaguered Long Island bank has recently seen at least 16 teams walk out the door, according to announcements by Dime Community Bancshares and Peapack-Gladstone Financial.

A solid majority of decision-makers at these companies expect to expand their workforces again this year, a Citizens Financial survey found. Loan losses are normally low in eras of economic expansion.

A combination of higher interest rates and increased vacancies — especially in office buildings — are leading to more apprehensions in commercial real estate.

A year ago, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition accused KeyBank of redlining. On Wednesday, the NCRC and Key announced a $25 million "agreement" that NCRC CEO Jesse Van Tol says could open the door to a new community benefits plan.

With high deposit and borrowing costs persisting amid the Federal Reserve's campaign against inflation, lenders face stress on their net interest margins and the potential of troubled loans ticking up.