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 failure of Republic First isn't a systemic threat or even a surprise. But the conditions that led to its failure are not all that unique and may foreshadow a secular rise in bank consolidation — one that policymakers can either embrace or resist.

In this month's roundup of top banking news: Navy Federal Credit Union officially launches its overseas banking program, Republic First Bank in Philadelphia falls to capital troubles and investor outrage, deeper looks at talks between Discover and Capital One and more.

In this month's roundup of top tech news: the impact of Synapse's bankruptcy on the banking-as-a-service industry, large language models best suited for banks, Discover deploys generative artificial intelligence in its contact center and more.

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.

The combination of the two regional banks is set to create a $64.5 billion-asset company with a 13-state footprint across parts of the Midwest, South and West.

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.

Mississippi's Renasant names its next CEO; environmental fintech Aspiration Partners spins out its consumer brand; the OCC adds five weeks to comment period for Capital One-Discover merger; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

In the inaugural iteration of American Banker's news quiz, test your knowledge on top articles covering the legal battles of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, new technology testing at JPMorgan Chase, earnings season and more.

The agency has a history of tangling with parent companies over how to split the burden after banking units collapse.

Capital One, like Discover, is showing signs of greater stress in its loan portfolio. Credit-card write-offs totaled $2.2 billion in the first quarter, a 61% increase from a year earlier.

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.

At the banks' annual meetings, shareholders at both companies struck down proposals that would have split the board chair and CEO roles. Two other proposals also failed to win shareholder support, one concerning energy financing and another on pay gap analysis.

The JPMorgan Chase CEO took aim Tuesday at the proposed Basel III endgame rules, hindrances to mergers and bureaucratic burdens. "I would love to have a more productive relationship with regulators, but I think it takes conversation," Dimon said.

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.

Institutions and their investors are facing pressure from climate activists, cautiously awaiting interest rate cuts and adjusting to new Federal Reserve and FDIC policies.

While the deal price is expected to be immaterial, it's another piece of the consumer empire Goldman once dreamed of that the bank is now scaling back.

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.

New details have emerged about the negotiations that culminated in Capital One's blockbuster $35 billion agreement to acquire Discover. At one point last December, the two parties broke off discussions, according to a securities filing.