Eastern swears off M&A amid activist investor's pressure

Key insight: Eastern Bankshares' CEO hardened his stance against future bank M&A deals. The comments came three months after activist investor HoldCo Asset Management criticized the bank's M&A strategy and urged it to consider selling itself.What's at stake: Like other banks that HoldCo has recently scrutinized, Eastern has backed away from the idea of doing more bank acquisitions and has said it's leaning into more share buyback activity.Forward look: Eastern executives said they expect to pursue another s ...