UBS agreed to buy the U.S. robo advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash, the first major acquisition of a fintech company under Chief Executive Ralph Hamers.

Acquiring the earned-wage-access firm and challenger bank would further efforts by the retailer and its partners to develop a "super app" featuring mobile financial tools.

Goldsmith, the grandson of City National Bank’s co-founder, is set to retire as its chairman. In an interview, he betrayed no regrets about the company’s sale to Royal Bank of Canada, which was propelled by a similar logic about the need for scale that drives many deals today.

Wells Fargo is considering a sale of its minority stake in a Hong Kong lender, as the U.S. bank continues to unload assets as part of a turnaround plan, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

The announcement marks JPMorgan’s first deal in 2022, on the heels of its most prolific year for buying and taking stakes in smaller firms since at least the financial crisis.

A $28 billion agreement with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition could help win regulatory approval for the acquisition of Michigan-based Flagstar Bancorp. The deal was originally expected to close last year.

The Alabama company continues to explore buyouts of add-on businesses, part of a strategy that has already helped recoup dollars lost as a result of reforms to its overdraft practices.

The merger of FVCBankcorp and Blue Ridge Bankshares, which has faced criticism from student borrower advocates, would have created a $5 billion-asset bank. The deal was delayed last year after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency raised concerns.

Grupo Financiero Banorte is seen as the top contender among potential bidders to buy Citigroup’s Mexican consumer banking operations, according to analysts at Credit Suisse Group and Bank of America. 

The Boston company is forecasting larger earnings growth in the first year after closing its $3.5 billion deal than it projected in September. On the flip side, the acquisition will take longer to close than initially expected.

The deal is the latest example of a mainstream bank buying a point-of-sale lender focused on financing home improvement projects.

The government has become more skeptical of mergers, but the Minneapolis company expressed confidence it can maintain its original timeline for the $8 billion acquisition. Separately, it announced substantial changes to its overdraft program that will, among other things, eliminate fees for nonsufficient funds.

The Rhode Island bank estimated that its revised overdraft practices will cost $40 million each year, but it noted that complaints to call centers are down 40% since the policy change.

Valuations for payment technology companies skyrocketed over the past year, pushed by a wave of public listings and record venture capital investments. Some potential acquirers are waiting for prices to cool.

The economic and political conditions are in place for bank-credit union mergers to blow past last year's total of 13 despite the banking industry's strong opposition to them.

SoFi Bank, which is expected to open next month, emerges from the company’s purchase of a small community bank in California. It will not be allowed to engage in crypto-asset activities without its primary regulator’s approval.

The companies originally hoped to complete the deal in late 2021. The buyer chalked up the delay to an overburdened Federal Reserve, rather than any problems with its application.

Citigroup, which has been shedding some of its retail operations as part of a global revamp, is in advanced talks with Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holding for a sale of its mainland China consumer business, people familiar with the matter said.

Citigroup is offloading its consumer-banking businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as CEO Jane Fraser continues her push to simplify the New York-based bank.

Banco Santander is among lenders exploring bids for Citigroup’s retail banking operations in Mexico, according to people with knowledge of the matter.