Financial stocks were leaning lower pre-bell Monday, with the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) slightly declining.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was down 0.1% and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 0.3% higher.

DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) has agreed to be acquired by SoftBank Group for approximately $4 billion, the latter said. Shares of DigitalBridge Group were up more than 9% premarket.

KKR (KKR) has first negotiation rights to take Japan's Yomeishu Seizo private and is planning to finalize the terms to launch a tender offer in January, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. KKR shares were 0.2% lower premarket.

Lloyds Banking (LYG) is closing its invoice financing service for small business customers by the end of this year, the Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. Lloyds Banking stock was down 0.5% pre-bell.