Regional banks

When M&T Bank was acquiring Wilmington Trust in 2011, it tapped into Abigail Mrozinski's deep understanding of its newly added wealth business to help the merger go smoothly.

The Wisconsin bank's pending acquisition of 32 Huntington branches would boost its ability to make more loans, but like other banks it said deposit costs are cutting into margins.

The San Antonio bank reported 6.8% growth in loans, but Phil Green said he was unwilling to match overly generous prices and underwriting terms that he is seeing in the market.

The artificial intelligence engine will handle simple queries directly, feed information to customer service reps for others and analyze all calls.

Investors seem to be betting that a long-rumored sale of the Dallas company is on hold now that it has named a new CEO, but analysts say it remains an attractive takeover target for a larger regional bank.

Now that the Cincinnati company recently completed its first bank acquisition in over a decade, CEO Greg Carmichael is pushing ahead on tech hires and expansion outside its Midwestern core.

The Dallas company finally made the move that had long been expected: Curtis Farmer succeeds Ralph Babb as chief executive. However, Farmer will still report to Babb, who stays on as executive chairman.

Fifth Third bought MB Financial in the quarter and benefited from increases in corporate banking revenues and a slight improvement in credit quality.

The Salt Lake City bank saw growth across all lending categories and an improvement in credit quality. It also said it has finished the second of three stages in its multiyear conversion to new core-banking technology.

The bank is investing more in its digital capabilities, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The two banks, which plan to complete their merger by early fall, have little geographic overlap, so they can keep lending teams in place and push for immediate loan growth, according to Craig Dahl.

The cold, hard truth of bank mergers is that rivals often steal top producers and convince customers the bigger bank won’t care about them anymore. The CEOs of the merging banks explain their retention efforts.

A big decrease in noninterest income outweighed cost controls during the first quarter.

The Providence, R.I., bank reported increases in most fee-based lines and loan categories, and it continued to add deposits through its new digital franchise, Citizens Access.

Tens of millions of dollars of M&A costs and a decline in mortgage activity offset higher loan income in the first quarter at the two banks, which also offered a timeline for their rebranding and shareholder votes.

CEO Andy Cecere acknowledges that other banks have tried to broaden customer relationships and selectively expand into new markets before and struggled. But the sophistication of today’s online and mobile services could make all the difference this time, he says.

Asked whether the BB&T-SunTrust deal had sparked a desire to pursue deals, Andy Cecere emphasized a focus on digital upgrades and opening branches in new markets.

The Minneapolis bank reported mid- to high-single-digit improvement in those categories, but total loan growth was curbed by declines in CRE and other credit types.

The Dallas regional assured analysts that it has ample sources of liquidity to fund its expected loan growth.

The bank’s CFO says it has enough liquidity to meet loan demand in the short term, but how long can it keep its loan-to-deposit ratio below 100%?