Many institutions have delayed planning for a big change to reserve accounting despite a belief that they should start testing systems and methodologies next year.
The Montana company agreed to buy Inter-Mountain Bancorp in an all-stock deal valued at $173 million. The company has lined up nine bank acquisitions in the last five years.
If Congress changes the $50 billion-asset threshold for systemically important financial institutions, big banks could take it as a signal that regulators would be amenable to larger deals.
The traditional community bank model of "being local and providing good service" no longer provides an competitive edge in a world dominated by online banking, according to Douglas Kennedy, CEO of Peapack-Gladstone.