M&T lends a hand in the Keystone State, fintech-bank deal is delayed and more in banking news this week.

The $1.1 billion-asset Sikorsky Financial would combine with Bridgeport City Employees Federal Credit Union, which has $32 million of assets.

Banks are underwater on many bonds they bought before interest rates began their sharp rise. The impact has been wide-ranging — decreasing the industry's interest in stock buybacks, dampening the appetite for M&A and raising concerns about some smaller institutions' ability to borrow from the Federal Home Loan banks.

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.

The subprime consumer lender, whose stock price has sagged this year, is being sold to an asset management firm. Elevate's CEO told employees that "the current market conditions present a challenging backdrop for our organization and so many others in the consumer finance industry."

Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives will help advance financial services firms' priorities, with a wish list that includes curbing ambitious proposals by a top markets regulator and diminishing the clout of a popular U.S. consumer watchdog.

Apollo Global Management has agreed to acquire Sector Financial, which focuses on middle-market direct lending, as part of its purchase of a portion of Credit Suisse Group's securitized products group, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The acquisition will add $8 billion of assets under management to the Illinois bank's wealth subsidiary. It marks another example of U.S. banks bolstering their wealth management businesses in a bid to collect more fee income.

Voyager Digital Ltd. is trying to sign a deal to sell itself to one of the bidders that lost the auction for the bankrupt crypto lender, after the winner of that auction, FTX, was itself forced into insolvency proceedings.

Bonus season is looking grim on Wall Street, with year-end incentive pools expected to drop sharply across the finance industry amid a pullback in mergers and acquisitions, persistent inflation and the threat of a potential recession.