Strategic planning

Synovus is widely regarded as one of the industry’s most admired companies, and it is up to Liz Wolverton to ensure that it does not rest on its laurels.

The Dallas company has extinguished talk of a potential sale after aggressively cutting costs over the past year. But concerns about its future — including its ability to find new sources of revenue — remain.

The banking companies agreed to terminate their planned merger after regulators withheld approval. The snag is tied to a previously disclosed issue with Hope's 2016 financial results.

The Indiana company could also use proceeds from the planned stock sale to pay off debt.

Chemical Financial's decision to shutter nearly 40 branches and cut more than 200 jobs is a result of improved technology and an effort to become more efficient after years of pursuing acquisitions.

The Michigan company said the branch closures will save it $20 million a year. It also plans to devote fewer resources to indirect auto, where returns have trailed other lending categories.

Associated's agreement to buy Whitnell & Co. comes just weeks after the company lined up its first bank deal since the financial crisis.

The acquisition will allow Eagle to expand into southwestern Montana.

The Wisconsin company plans to shutter half of Bank Mutual's branches, including seven in Milwaukee.

Bank Mutual was still in talks to buy a bank roughly its own size when it began exploring a sale. The move allowed Bank Mutual to quickly find a buyer after its planned acquisition fell through.

From preparing for the next recession and digital disruption to better planning and what millennials want, CUNA Mutual Group’s 2017 Online Discovery Conference covered a lot of ground.

Bryn Mawr Bank has launched a mutual fund at a time when heightened competition and regulatory oversight are the norm.

Arvest agreed to pay nearly $400 million in cash for a bank with 42 branches in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The company says the tracking devices are a way to reduce office space and know when shared workstations are free, but "hot-desking" also raises questions about whether employees are being spied on.

Lynn Harton was finally named CEO of United Community Bank after a five-year apprenticeship, though Jimmy Tallent remains CEO of the parent company. The executives have long touted an ability to bounce ideas off each other as a reason for United's success.

Approval from the Federal Reserve is the last remaining hurdle for the $2.2 billion transaction.

In addition to typical industry challenges, family-owned banks also have to address generational leadership and estate planning at a time when an increasing number of their CEOs are looking to retire.

The Florida company will pay nearly $600 million to buy HCBF Holding and Sunshine Bancorp.

After posting a second quarter of revenue growth and with plans to return another $2 billion of cash to investors, departing boss Stuart Gulliver’s six-year turnaround of HSBC Holdings might finally be gathering momentum.

The Louisiana company, which recorded a large loan-loss provision to cover energy-related chargeoffs, also disclosed a new regulatory order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.