Special Report: Banking & Finance

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Banks went shopping over recent months for buyers and sellers in the glow of strong economic indicators and signs that stronger ones are on their way.

More than $1 billion in M&A closed in October, while $106 million in pending purchases and sales made news in December. February alone saw four deals struck or completed transactions for a total value of nearly $1.7 billion.

The net result: Los Angeles County will lose some banks, while a number of those remaining will grow their local assets.

To read which banks changed hands, and what bankers cite as the factors driving the shopping spree, please read M&A, which starts on page 1.

December’s federal tax overhaul has spread some gold dust onto local banks and businesses, but a particular provision of it is causing experts to scratch their heads.

The qualified business income deduction could give small business owners up to a 20 percent deduction on taxable income – if certain guidelines are met.

But the devil is in the details, especially in tax law. And the new law’s detail that’s confounding wealth managers and tax accountants is trying to understand who fits the criteria to receive the deduction. To learn more about what the experts say, please read TAXES, also on page 1.

A data-driven picture of the financial health of L.A. County banks starts on page 16 in the Business Journal’s Banking and Finance Special Report charts, which also rank the top institutions, according to assets held locally as of December 31.

Statewide, the banking picture shows larger assets held by fewer banks, possibly the outcome of an ongoing M&A stream.

California had 174 banks in the third quarter of 2017, down from 182 in the same year-ago period, and from 194 in 2015, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Institutions’ total assets, however, have increased. In the third quarter, they totaled nearly $748 billion, up from $735 billion a year ago and $661 billion in 2015.

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