Banks announced 21 deals in March, capping the best quarter for M&A in nearly two years. Investment bankers say the momentum should continue to build throughout the year, adding that 2013 should be a particularly busy year of consolidation.

Signature Bank (SBNY) in New York has launched a new specialty finance company and has hired a team of executives away from rival Capital One Financial (COF) to run it.

Google (GOOG) has acquired the prepaid card processor TxVia, the companies said Monday.

A breakdown of M&A announcements for the last week

Raymond James Financial Inc. dismissed more than 200 employees as the wealth-management firm completed its acquisition of Morgan Keegan & Co., according to chief executive officer Paul Reilly.

A failed bank deal in Michigan last week could be a financial and symbolic boon for Huntington Bancshares.

High asking prices and stubborn CEOs will keep M&A tepid in the short run, but eventually it will pick up — and two or three regionals in the Midwest and South could disappear, panelists on an American Banker Roundtable said.

Heading into 2011, there were multiple signs that it would be an active year for bank mergers and acquisitions. But as we know, industry M&A fell well short of expectations.

Shares of Yadkin Valley Financial (YAVY) jumped nearly 10% Friday after an analyst identified the company as a possible "takeover target."

Participants in a recent American Banker roundtable debate to what extent tougher supervision for banks above $50 billion of assets will deter deals among banks below the threshold.

New York Community would be paid $24 million to assume $2.3 billion of deposits from Aurora Bank, a former Lehman unit. The liquidity could be used to retire bonds coming due, Joseph Ficalora says.

First Mariner Bancorp has warned investors that it is in danger of failing.

Regional banks are going to have to innovate and cut costs because revenue will remain tight and competition will get fiercer, Matthew Friend of Accenture Payment Services says.

BancTrust Financial Group (BTFG), a troubled Mobile, Ala., company that is looking for a buyer, has bought itself time to find one after reaching a deal to delay interest payments on a $20 million loan outstanding to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) may be based in Canada, but its U.S. operations have become increasingly important to the future of the company — and of its employees.

Toronto-Dominion plans in the coming years to find Ed Clark's successor from within. Colleen Johnston, its chief financial officer, seems to have a strong shot but downplayed speculation in an interview.

New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYB) has agreed to take on $2.3 billion of deposits from Aurora Bank FSB, a former mortgage arm of Lehman Brothers that has been winding down.

Three weeks after completing an acquisition for one small Pennsylvania bank, S&T Bancorp in Indiana, Pa., has struck a deal for another.

Bank of America has sold collection agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were potentially inaccurate or already repaid.

More than 20 banks in the state are still in the Treasury Department's program with limited options to get out. Selling could be the best solution, industry observers say.