Corporate governance

A lawyer says the industry has been on notice at least since the "Boom Boom Room" scandal of the 1980s that hostile workplaces won't be tolerated.

Strategic alliances are a viable avenue leading to risk reduction and higher profits — provided that bankers can learn to embrace them.

The Los Angeles-based bank said that it's eliminating roles across its footprint. The job cuts follow a year in which expenses soared and losses piled up.

After focusing on cost control throughout much of 2023, including a round of job cuts, the Pittsburgh company has announced plans to expand in high-growth markets like Texas and refurbish more than 1,200 existing offices.

The Providence, Rhode Island, company has recruited a head of wealth management advisors and a head of private wealth managers as part of a new strategy to reel in high-net worth clients.

Jeremy Kress, a law professor at the University of Michigan, filed a petition for rulemaking to two bank regulators, asking them to adopt an unaffiliated director standard for larger banks to address conflicts of interest between banks and their holding companies.

A day after the regional bank's stock tumbled on tough fourth-quarter results and some austerity moves, observers debated whether management just needs time to build enough capital to catch up with growth or if it is still too overexposed in multifamily lending.

The Birmingham, Alabama bank cut down its workforce across divisions as higher interest rates put pressure on its business.

The central bank massively increased the money supply during the pandemic. We paid the price with high interest rates throttling the real estate industry.

The Los Angeles company has sold $6 billion of loans and securities since buying PacWest in November. CEO Jared Wolff said it might get smaller still as it strives to boost profitability.

The private student loan market is in flux after one major lender, Discover Financial Services, said it's leaving the sector. Sallie Mae is gearing up to compete for that business, much as it did when Wells Fargo pulled up stakes in 2020.

A former comptroller of the currency assesses last year's turmoil in the industry and charts a path forward including advancements in regulation.

The Tennessee-based bank was forced to keep operating on its own after a proposed acquisition was called off. Months later, First Horizon has picked up new customers and improved its profitability, but investors remain cautious amid plans for catch-up spending on technology.

The Columbus, Ohio-based bank expects to hike expenses by about 4.5% this year as it ramps up investments in geographic areas and specialty banking verticals where it sees growth opportunities.

Industry recruiters see the changes as intended to make client assets and advisory teams "stickier" and to retain executive talent.

Despite a surge in quarterly expenses in the fourth quarter and a projected uptick in the first quarter, the North Carolina company is standing by its expense guidance for 2024.

After the Rhode Island-based company eliminated 650 positions, severance-related costs contributed to a 71% decline in quarterly net income.

The custody bank is managing expectations about its 2024 performance while assuring investors that profits will improve significantly in the medium term. AI is one path it's pursuing.

Jane Fraser says this year will be "critical" for the megabank, which is engaged in a massive, multiyear restructuring that involves cutting 20,000 jobs by the end of 2026.

Royal Bank of Canada hopes to save money by moving positions from high-cost California to Vancouver. The Toronto-based company is looking to cut costs as it seeks to bolster the earnings of its Los Angeles-based City National Bank subsidiary.