Though new bank formation slowed somewhat in 2023, with only five de novos opening, the stage appears set for a more active year in 2024 with a number of groups working toward a charter.

Overall merger-and-acquisition activity proved modest across the banking sector, but several prominent deals were reached. Read on for details of the year's biggest transactions.

The deadline for a $28 million deal between Bancorp 34 and CBOA Financial was pushed later into 2024 after Bancorp 34, the buyer, announced it would restate third-quarter results to reflect a significant loss tied to a worsening commercial real estate credit.

Here is a highlight of 10 great American Banker Magazine features from the year. Topics range from redlining to the Most Influential Women in Fintech.

In American Banker's Leaders Forum, our journalists interviewed top executives from across the banking and fintech sectors as well as regulators who keep them in line.

Bank investor Kenneth Lehman and investment firm Castle Creek are providing the funds to the Virginia-based bank, whose fintech friendly strategy has gotten it in trouble with regulators. The bank's stock has sunk 70% this year.

Provident Financial in Iselin initially anticipated completing its deal for Oak Ridge-based Lakeland Bancorp in the second quarter. Now as it waits for regulatory approval, Provident says the process will stretch into spring 2024.

Funding pressures moderated in recent months, but loan charge-offs climbed. With festering concerns about a vulnerable economy, the potential for elevated credits costs could loom large over the upcoming bank earnings season.

The banks' resistance to changes being recommended by the Federal Housing Finance Agency do not bode well for their future or that of the industry.

Lincoln Savings Bank has tapped Sean Willett, chief administrative officer at Financial Institutions, as its next leader after a six-month search.

Led by veteran banker Stephen Gordon, Genesis Bank in Newport Beach, California, plans to use the funds pledged by private equity firms and other investors to roll up community banks in the Western U.S.

The Fed's Basel endgame draft rule would restrict access to capital and credit on Main Street.

The changes include elevating several recently hired executives while eliminating nearly two dozen jobs and trimming annual operating expenses by $6 million.

The Michigan City company, part of a growing list of banks announcing similar overhauls, aims to sell nearly $400 million of securities and reinvest the proceeds in higher-yielding loans.

The acquisition would deepen Orrstown's presence in its home state and Maryland. In recent years, Codorus Valley Bancorp had faced pressure from an activist investor to consider selling.

Carter Bankshares in Martinsville, Virginia, is attempting to exit a longstanding relationship with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice through a seldom-used collections tool that was at the center of a court hearing this week.

The 130-year-old Warsaw Federal Savings & Loan achieved a minority status after retooling its board this summer. Its CEO, who is also new to the job, has no plans to slow the pace of change at the depositor-owned bank.

Equity, based in Wichita, Kansas, has agreed to buy the parent company of the Bank of Kirksville. The combined company would have $5.4 billion of assets and 74 branches, including 23 in Missouri.

The Pennsylvania bank has agreed to sell its Exchange Underwriters subsidiary to World Insurance Associates for $30.5 million, saying that the deal will help pad its capital and liquidity.

The two companies announced the deal more than a year ago and had anticipated closing it in the first half of 2023. But advocacy groups have urged regulators to withhold approval, arguing that it will hurt consumers.