There’s news today of the regional bank consolidation variety. Huntington Bancshares, based in Ohio, is reportedly buying Cadence Bank, based in Texas and Mississippi, for nearly $7.5 billion.

It’s the latest in a flurry of recent regional bank deals. In fact, both Huntington and Cadence have already made acquisitions this year. Other regional banks that have made deals recently include Fifth Third, PNC, and Pinnacle.

The banking industry is changing quickly, said Meg Tahyar, head of financial institutions at the law firm Davis Polk. 

“A lot of banks just need more scale to survive in the next generation,” said Tahyar.

More scale as in more assets on the balance sheet to invest in new technology, like building fancy apps for mobile banking.

“Every regional bank needs to make it as fun as Robinhood makes it,” Tahyar said.

And Tahyar said consolidation can free up cash to make that happen. Another driver of the recent acquisitions is pent-up demand.

“Over the past several years, regional banks were reluctant to merge during the Biden administration, which was seen as unfriendly toward bank consolidation,” said Jeremy Kress, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan.

Whereas the Trump administration is encouraging it, said Kress.

“A lot of regional banks are trying to strike while the iron is hot, while the regulatory environment is friendly,” Kress said.

Kress said consolidation can allow banks to offer more services and better fraud protection. At the same time…

“When regional banks merge with the ambition of competing with Wall Street banks, they tend to lose focus on their local communities,” said Kress.

Which could make it harder for outside-the-box small business ideas to get loans. Consolidation can also mean less favorable interest rates, said Alexander Yokum, a bank analyst at CFRA.

“There's less competition, that means they can offer you lower rates on your deposits, and then on the other side, maybe they can charge you more on their loans as well. So I mean, probably a negative for consumers to have fewer banks,” said Yokum.

For now, Yokum said the U.S. still has a healthy mix of national, regional and community banks. But there’s likely more consolidation to come.