James Stevens, co-leader of Troutman Pepper Locke’s Financial Services Industry Group, was quoted in the July 14, 2025 Reuters article, “US Bank M&A Hopes Revive Under Trump Regulators.” The article was also republished by AOL, Investing.com, MSN, U.S. News & World Report, and Yahoo! Finance.

“What we’ve seen from a regulatory standpoint is a lot more clarity and … a return to a more permissive environment,” particularly for mergers, said James Stevens, a law partner who advises financial institutions at Troutman Pepper Locke.

Regulators’ moves to streamline deal approvals “certainly opened the doors more towards those bigger banks talking about getting together,” he said.

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