Corporate governance

When Goldman Sachs executives set out to woo investors in early 2020, they offered a promising outlook for their novelty Main Street business. The unit would go from a money-suck to break-even in 2022. It isn’t quite working out that way. 

The two megabanks said that their capital requirements will rise in the wake of Federal Reserve stress tests, putting downward pressure on their distributions to shareholders. Meanwhile, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and others announced plans to raise their dividends.

A new and larger finance industry is emerging — one in which traditional institutions aren’t nearly as dominant as they used to be.

Pushes for transparency on charitable donations and ghost guns, among others, were voted down.

Goldman Sachs Group plans to anchor a new office tower in Dallas that would hold thousands of employees, part of the bank’s expansion beyond its Manhattan base.

Court-appointed custodian Alfred Putnam is seeking an extension of nearly three weeks to give more groups time to nominate candidates for a vacant board seat at the Philadelphia bank and solicit proxies from investors before a special meeting.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce expects its U.S. commercial banking and wealth management business to provide the fastest sales growth over the next three years.

VersaBank, which recently announced a deal for a tiny Minnesota bank, says volatility will increase demand for its loans. “Traditionally, we’ve grown rapidly when our point-of-sale financing partners have trouble raising financing,” said CEO David Taylor.

The Dallas bank is joining the branch-consolidation trend that has accelerated during the pandemic, announcing plans to shutter 22 branches in Michigan, Texas and California.

The North Carolina bank’s wealth arm now operates in nine of the 10 largest U.S. markets.