Bank Director’s Most Popular Stories in 2025 Find Banks Focused on Opportunity

If anything stands out about banking in 2025, it’s likely the Trump administration’s rollback of bank regulation and supervision. Overall, many banks have been happy about the changes. Further, bank stocks have generally risen throughout the year, and the largest banks have reported strong earnings. That’s trickled down throughout the industry, with S&P Global Market Intelligence reporting $122.8 billion in pre-provision net revenue in the third quarter — the highest since at least 2012. 

That optimism seems to have led Bank Director’s readers to focus on how to grow their institutions through technology and talent — including the leadership that will drive their organizations forward. They wanted to know how they could leverage artificial intelligence and data to drive efficiencies and opportunities. And they were interested in how some of the industry’s top performers built profitable and growing institutions.

The below list of the most popular articles written by Bank Director’s editorial team, ranked by number of pageviews in 2025, also found readers continuing to wrestle with interest rates. And they’re interested in reading about fraud — whether that’s from inside or outside the bank. 

It’s difficult to predict what trends we’ll see next year, but here are the top stories from 2025:

1. Victim or Perpetrator?
A CEO embezzles millions of out a bank, leading to its failure. It sounds like a nightmare scenario for bank boards, but it really happened: In 2023, Heartland Tri-State Bank in Elkhart, Kansas, collapsed after CEO Shan Hanes quickly funneled $47 million out of the bank as part of a crypto scam. While Hanes does time in Leavenworth, shareholders have recovered much of their investment — a stunning twist in this tale, which was penned by contributing writer John Engen for Bank Director magazine and is free to read.

2. 2025 Compensation & Talent Survey: Powering the C-Suite
The bank leaders responding to this year’s survey reported gaps that could affect the future leadership of their organizations, according to Director of Research Laura Alix. A third expected their bank’s CEO to retire or depart within the next five years, and 30% said their bank lacked an effective long-term succession plan for executives deeper in the C-suite.

3. 2025 Technology Survey: Banks Grapple With Data, AI Maturity
CEOs, senior technology executives and board members of banks below $100 billion in assets reported progress on AI in this year’s survey, including drafting acceptable use policies (66%), experimenting with AI in limited use cases (62%), educating employees about AI-enabled fraud (53%) and updating vendor due diligence processes to account for AI risks. 

4. Billions of Sub Debt Set to Reprice, Forcing Banks to Explore Options
Banks were still dealing with the ramifications of higher interest rates earlier this year, before three quarter-point cuts to the federal funds rate in the third and fourth quarters. Last summer, Piper Sandler Cos. estimated $17.5 billion in subordinated debt was coming due in the second half of 2025 and into early 2026. Banks faced three costly choices: Letting the interest rate float as the debt amortizes, issuing more debt or calling the debt.

5. Regulators Scrutinize CECL Processes at Community Banks
Community banks adopted the current expected credit loss model in 2023, but two years later, examiners expected bank executives to continue to refine and improve their CECL processes and data.

6. The Determined CEO Leading Pittsburgh’s F.N.B.
F.N.B. Corp. Chairman and CEO Vincent Delie Jr. grew up fighting on the north side of Pittsburgh and dealing with dyslexia before joining the staff of a little bank that he eventually helped grow from $8.7 billion in 2009 to $49.9 billion.  

7. 2025 RankingBanking Report: What It Takes to Be the Best
Bank Director’s annual report dug into the strategies behind the industry’s best performers, including 1st Source Corp. in South Bend, Indiana, Nicolet Bankshares in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Columbia Banking System in Tacoma, Washington, and two banks in California that topped the ranking: East West Bancorp and West Coast Community Bancorp.

8. Big Bank M&A Poised to Return
Driven by improved valuations and faster deal approvals, regional banks returned to M&A in a big way in 2025. Before some of the year’s biggest deals were announced in the latter half of the year — including Fifth Third Bancorp’s acquisition of Comerica and Pinnacle Financial Partners’ merger with Synovus Financial Corp. — Executive Editor Jackie Stewart wrote about why those larger institutions were expected to start pursuing deals again.

9. Banks Have Been Unloading Bonds at a Loss. Is That a Good Thing?
Underwater securities remained a concern in the first quarter 2025, complicating prospective M&A activity and leading many to sell bonds at a loss. By the third quarter, unrealized losses remained substantial but were declining, decreasing 15% from the prior quarter to $337.1 billion, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. 

10. Jackpot! How Banks Can Prevent ATM Attacks
Fraud bookended this year’s top articles for readers. Community banks, which tend to rely on standardized ATM models and outsourced ATM servicing, have been particularly susceptible to ATM jackpotting attacks by organized crime rings. Alix shared how boards and executives can approach the problem.