Ohio’s First Financial to acquire Westfield Bancorp in $325M deal

The transaction, set to close in the fourth quarter, would expand the Cincinnati’s bank’s presence in the opposite corner of the Buckeye State.

By Dan Ennis • June 24, 2025

Black-owned Redemption acquires Utah bank

Holding company CEO Ashley Bell said he envisions Redemption establishing locations outside Utah that would be similar to Capital One cafes. “We will lean into expansion,” Bell said.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 20, 2025

Explore the Trendline➔

M&A

President Donald Trump’s reelection was predicted to yield loosened regulation. But tariff volatility and economic uncertainty has thrown a wrench into an expected boom in mergers and acquisitions.

By Banking Dive staff

JPMorgan Chase to launch deposit token

“It will be the first token of its kind on a public blockchain, enabling fast, secure, 24/7 money movement between trusted parties,” according to a post by Base, Coinbase’s blockchain.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • June 18, 2025

Citizens exec: ‘Crazy’ tariff volatility seems to have abated

Client optimism is returning after an initial dip, but “everybody is doing one more lap around the diligence on M&A deals,” said Don McCree, the lender’s head of commercial banking.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 17, 2025

Commerce to buy FineMark in $585M deal

The acquirer aims to expand its presence in high-growth markets and leverage its wealth platform with the addition of FineMark’s $7.7 billion in assets under administration in a deal set to close by Jan. 1, 2026. 

By Rajashree Chakravarty • June 16, 2025

KeyBank wants to boost commercial team hires by 10% this year

The Cleveland-based regional aims to have 170 to 180 commercial bankers by the end of 2025.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 13, 2025

JPMorgan seeks to dismiss part of $481M CRE lawsuit

Wells Fargo “seeks to hold JPMorgan liable” for a real estate company’s “criminal conduct, even though JPMorgan was the victim of that crime,” JPMorgan asserts in a motion.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • June 12, 2025

Judge dismisses case against First Republic execs, auditor

A lawsuit filed in June 2023 claimed that the failed bank’s executives and auditor made misleading statements about the lender’s financial conditions and assets.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • June 12, 2025

U.S. Bank’s Kedia outlines strategy to rev up growth

The Minneapolis-based lender, facing pressure to deliver stronger results, is working to deepen relationships with customers and transform its payments business, the CEO said Wednesday.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 12, 2025

Varo’s new tech chief views responsible AI as differentiator

Rathi Murthy, who became the San Francisco-based all-digital bank's CTO in March, has hired for two new and complementary roles aimed at business diligence and strategic development.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • June 11, 2025

Regions plans to make the most of M&A ‘disruption’

“If somebody’s going to do a deal where we are, then we’re going to be all over customers and people and trying to grow our business,” Regions CFO David Turner said Tuesday.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 11, 2025

Needham to acquire BankProv for $212M

The acquisition, expected to close in the fourth quarter, is set to expand Needham’s footprint into Massachusetts’ North Shore and New Hampshire, where it already has business customers.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 9, 2025

Pulaski Bank’s failure spurred by ‘impaired capital’: FDIC OIG

The shuttered Chicago-based lender had deposit liabilities of nearly $20.7 million unaccounted for in its core system, the regulator’s office found.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • June 5, 2025

BMO hires BofA vet Levine

Aron Levine will become group head and president of BMO U.S., effective July 7. Additionally, Ernie Johannson, one of the bank’s highest-ranking women executives, is retiring in early 2026.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 5, 2025

Citi drops firearms restriction in a bow to conservative pressure

The bank updated a 7-year-old policy, enacted after the Parkland school shooting, over concerns about “fair access” months after Republicans accused some institutions of political de-banking.

By Dan Ennis • June 4, 2025

JPMorgan’s Lake to get expanded role as international exec leaves

When Sanoke Viswanathan, JPMorgan Chase’s CEO of international consumer and wealth, exits the bank in September, Marianne Lake will take on his duties.

By Caitlin Mullen • June 3, 2025

Wells Fargo offloads $4.4B railcar business

The bank will sell its rail operating lease assets to a joint venture between GATX and Brookfield Infrastructure.

By Rajashree Chakravarty • June 2, 2025

Citi marketing chief looks to ‘reenergize’ the bank’s brand

“We're not just producing content and putting out a 50-page white paper,” said Alex Craddock, Citi’s chief marketing and content officer. “We're really thinking a lot more strategically.”

By Caitlin Mullen • June 2, 2025

Wells Fargo clears penultimate consent order; asset cap remains

The 2015 order brought by the OCC was the 13th closed since 2019 and the seventh this year. CEO Charlie Scharf indicated Wednesday the bank is inching closer to freedom from the $1.95 trillion asset cap. 

By Rajashree Chakravarty • May 30, 2025

Ex-Goldman exec gets 2-year sentence over 1MDB scandal

Prosecutors sought leniency for Tim Leissner based on his cooperation, which the bank pushed back on, saying the former executive’s efforts are “deserving of sanction, not praise.”

By Caitlin Mullen • May 30, 2025

Seacoast bets big on The Villages in $710.8M deal

The acquisitive bank will buy VBI, which touts a more than 50% deposit share in Florida’s largest retirement community, in a transaction set to close in the fourth quarter.

By Dan Ennis • May 30, 2025

Bank profits rise in Q1

The FDIC’s 4,462 insured banks saw a 1.16% return on assets and net income of $70.6 billion in the first quarter.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • May 29, 2025

UBS to sell hedge fund business to Cantor Fitzgerald

The Swiss lender’s O’Connor unit, with $11 billion in assets under management, will return to the purview of Bill Ferri, a UBS veteran and O’Connor founder who’s now at Cantor Fitzgerald.

By Caitlin Mullen • May 29, 2025

Citi sells Polish consumer business to VeloBank

Upon closing, it will be the 10th international consumer business Citi has sold since 2021. The bank will maintain its institutional business in Poland, as it has elsewhere, following the sale.

By Gabrielle Saulsbery • May 28, 2025

Wells Fargo’s Scharf assured over asset cap’s potential end

“We’re not done, but we’re a hell of a lot closer to the end than the beginning, at this point,” the CEO said Wednesday.

By Caitlin Mullen • May 28, 2025