Community Banking

Unlike some of its expansion-minded regional bank peers, Montana-based First Interstate is reconfiguring its business model to be smaller and more focused on relationship banking. The blueprint is the work of CEO Jim Reuter, who joined the bank 15 months ago.

American Banker's 2026 Predictions report finds that nonbank entities and check fraud are major threats to local banks in the coming months.

The Spanish banking giant, which has been trying to grow its U.S. business, plans to acquire the Connecticut-based parent company of Webster Bank.

Acquiring the $5.8 billion Northfield Bancorp would give Columbia a presence in both Brooklyn and Staten Island. The deal provides a window into the impact of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to freeze rents on the city's multifamily real estate market.

In keeping with its policy of outsourcing functions outside its core commercial and retail banking competency, Signature Bank near Chicago teamed with a larger trust company to fill a longstanding gap in its product set.

The Arkansas-based company pivoted to organic growth a few years ago, after making 14 bank acquisitions in less than a decade.

The House Financial Services Committee passed a community bank tailoring bill 33-21.

Though fourth-quarter net charge-offs reached a level not seen since the financial crisis, the Little Rock, Arkansas-based regional bank is forecasting better results in 2026 and an even stronger recovery in 2027.

In the 11 months after Fifth Third completes its acquisition of Comerica, the Cincinnati bank plans to send 13 million-to-14 million pieces of paper mail to retail customers. CEO Tim Spence says the old-fashioned method "still works," and actually has some advantages over more modern modes of communication.