The firm reported $13.3 billion in NII in the first three months of the year, up 45% from a year earlier and more than the 42% jump analysts expected. That gain helped counter a surge in provisions for souring loans.

With the acquisition, the Lake City, Florida-based community bank will nab a consumer-direct platform and expand its footprint in the Midwest.

Rising vacancy levels, soaring interest rates and weaknesses exposed by recent bank failures have analysts and investors worried about banks' outsized exposure to high-rise office, apartment and retail properties.

Lenders had started tightening as early as the fourth quarter in anticipation of a possible recession. Now, the banking crisis is driving community and regional banks in particular to hit the brakes harder, stoking renewed recessions fears.

The banks invested in bonds at a time when rates were low, and their value has since dropped substantially. While there appears to be very little risk that the banks will ever have to realize the losses, an American Banker data analysis raises questions about whether regulators should toughen their monitoring of interest rate risk.

The company agreed to pay $27.2 million in restitution to shareholders and revised its 2022 earnings to show a steep loss. The plea agreement with the Department of Justice was tied to Sterling's now defunct low-documentation mortgage program.

Brady Torgerson, former president of First Security Bank-West, was sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud at two banks.

The threshold for the obligation has been lowered to 25 closed-end mortgage loans originated in each of the two preceding calendar years, according to a bulletin published on the OCC's website.

The Long Island company is closing 69% of the retail home lending offices previously operated by Flagstar Bancorp. New York Community recently acquired Flagstar for $2.6 billion.

Despite the reduction from last year, "there are some signs that that production is coming back" in mortgage, the bank's CEO said.