The news: PNC Financial is on track to buy FirstBank for $4.1 billion. The deal would give PNC a significant presence in Colorado and Arizona, per AP News.

The details: This purchase is part of PNC's larger strategy to become a nationwide "coast-to-coast banking franchise," per PNC executives. The acquisition will make it the largest bank in the Denver market and give it over 70 branches in Arizona.

It will also increase PNC's total assets to approximately $575 billion, making it closer in size to rivals like Capital One and U.S. Bank, per AP News.

Why this matters: Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are reshaping US banking, with this deal following larger ones that reset what financial institutions expect federal regulators to approve.

But all of these M&As show that large banks are scaling up to better compete with giants like JPMorgan and Bank of America. This consolidation among super-regional banks clearly signals that the regulatory environment is favorable for such moves. And we expect more of these types of deals in the near future.