Recorded live at Backbase ENGAGE Americas, Episode 61 of Banking Reinvented is a panel discussion that deep-dives into mergers and acquisitions, which aren’t just accelerating — they’re becoming a defining feature of the modern financial landscape.

In this episode, moderator Alex Jimenez is joined by an all-star panel of M&A experts, including Carla Higgins (CNB Bank), Sumeet Grover (UFCU), Osman Ulhaq (OneAZ Credit Union), and Nate Porter (West Monroe). Together, they discuss everything from recent trends to customer/member impact and ways to balance the promise of growth with the complexity of integration.

Tune in to hear from the leaders who are making the M&A journey work, whether as buyers, sellers, or strategic partners helping to drive transformation at scale.

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Timestamps

(00:00) – Welcome to the “Banking Reinvented” podcast

(00:49) – The current state of M&A in banking

(03:57) – The increasing prevalence of M&A at credit unions

(05:15) – Balancing desire for growth with complexity of integration

(08:38) – Getting cultural buy-in from employees and leadership

(14:04) – The difference between mergers at smaller and larger institutions

(18:41) – Tailoring M&A playbooks to individual institutions

(24:04) – Navigating pitfalls in M&A

(27:41) – Using M&As as an opportunity to acquire better tech

(30:32) – M&As for the purpose of reaching new segments

(32:10) – Acquiring banks for the license

(37:53) – Cleaning up your data during an M&A

(40:11) – Aligning charters in the credit union space

(43:21) – Episode wrap-up