The Tennessee-based bank was forced to keep operating on its own after a proposed acquisition was called off. Months later, First Horizon has picked up new customers and improved its profitability, but investors remain cautious amid plans for catch-up spending on technology.

The Indiana bank is "on offense by continuing to invest in new client-facing and key support talent and being ready and opportunistic for acquisitions," CEO Jim Ryan says.

Investors drove up the stock prices of both companies after Ally Financial said it's selling its point-of-sale lending business to Synchrony Financial. The deal is expected to help Ally focus on its bread-and-butter auto lending business, while also aiding Synchrony's efforts to gain market share.

Centra Credit Union in Columbus, Indiana — which completed a merger with NorthPark Community Credit Union this month — has agreed to absorb Hoosier Hills Credit Union. The latest deal would create a $3 billion-asset institution.

The Seattle bank's stock price fell in 2023 amid concerns over rising interest rates and its concentration of multifamily loans. The buyer is FirstSun Capital Bancorp, which raised $175 million as part of the deal.

Surging interest rates, recession threats and weaker stock valuations bogged down merger-and-acquisition activity last year. The 98 announced deals fell short of even 2020, when the pandemic briefly brought the economy to a standstill.

Hudson Valley Credit Union, which has $6.9 billion of assets, is buying Catskill Hudson Bancorp, which has $593 million of assets — more than any bank acquired by a credit union last year.

As the CEO of First Union Bank, Crutchfield struck more than 80 deals, riding the consolidation wave of the 1980s and 1990s. When he retired, First Union was the sixth largest bank in the country.

Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Arkansas, plans to put $250 million in equity capital it received from the Treasury Department to good use making mortgages and acquiring banks.

After announcing a deal to buy the entirety of SunSouth Bank in Dothan last year, All In now plans to take over another bank's branches in Brewton, Clayton, Eufaula, Geneva and Louisville.