Allissa Kline

Reporter

Allissa Kline is a Buffalo, N.Y.-based reporter who writes about national and regional banks and commercial and retail banking trends. Before joining American Banker in 2020, she worked at Buffalo Business First, where she covered banking and finance, insurance and accounting. Kline started her journalism career at the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y. She is a graduate of Colgate University and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Data security

MUFG Union Bank hires chief information security officer

Devon Bryan, who held similar jobs at KPMG and the Federal Reserve System, succeeds Brian DiPietro, who had been information security chief since 2016.

By Allissa Kline

August 14
Corporate governance

Wells Fargo names new compliance chief, other risk executives

The executive shuffle at the company continues as Credit Suisse America’s Paula Dominick is hired to replace Mike Roemer as chief compliance officer. It also hired or promoted four line-of-business chief risk officers and an enterprise testing leader.

By Allissa Kline

August 13
Commercial lending

Here's the credit quality metric to keep an eye on

Criticized assets are on the rise, especially in commercial portfolios, and may be the forerunner of a wave of loan losses later this year or next year unless economic conditions strengthen.

By Allissa Kline

August 12
Diversity and equality

Diversity chiefs gain prominence as banks confront racial inequality

Institutions large and small are either creating new positions or elevating existing diversity heads to C-suite roles. Will the moves help banks improve equality within their ranks and better serve their communities?

By Allissa Kline

August 9
Earnings

Strong 2Q for New York Community, but real test still to come

In what was a challenging quarter for the industry, the company reported strong loan growth and a wider margin. Continued momentum will depend on government stimulus, the reopening of New York City and borrowers' ability to make payments after their deferral periods end.

By Allissa Kline

July 29
ESG

How the pandemic redefined Truist's philanthropic priorities

The company's foundation, whose mission had been carefully planned by BB&T and SunTrust before their merger, opened just nine days before the novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic. Here’s what happened next.

By Allissa Kline

July 28
Commercial lending

Nonbanks face new disclosure rules on small-business loans in N.Y.

Similar to a law passed two years ago in California, legislation headed to the New York governor’s desk would require fintech and other nonbank lenders to uniformly disclose total cost of capital, APR and other metrics to potential borrowers.

By Allissa Kline

July 24
Compliance

HSBC promotes Lowthian to head of U.S. compliance

Longtime executive Christine Lowthian had been serving as interim chief compliance officer at HSBC Bank USA since April.

By Allissa Kline

July 23
Credit quality

KeyCorp defends its credit cushion as ample

Other regionals set more aside for loan losses than the Cleveland bank did in the second quarter, and its ratio of reserves to total loans is slightly lower, too. But Key executives say the portfolio is balanced and holding up well despite the pandemic’s economic toll.

By Allissa Kline

July 22
C-suite

Wells Fargo hires CFO away from BNY Mellon

Mike Santomassimo is at least the sixth ex-colleague of CEO Charlie Scharf to join the bank’s leadership team in the last nine months.

By Allissa Kline

July 21