CUNA has made two personnel moves. Gretchen Graf has been promoted to director of grassroots and political involvement. Graf, who joined CUNA in 2000, was previously Grassroots Manager for the association, and has been responsible for such CUNA programs as Hike the Hill and Project Zip Code. Meanwhile, Phil Drager has been named manager of state advocacy. The position is a new one for the trade group, which says its creation reflects its support for "increased credit union activities in state legislatures over the past year and to come in 2004." Drager was formerly CUNA's manager of government affairs and has been with CUNA for five years.
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Synovus Financial demonstrated at an industry conference how it is using Microsoft's Copilot to help its staff address customers' concerns.
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The U.S. arm of Spanish banking giant Santander has hired Swati Bhatia to oversee retail banking and its digital transformation efforts. Bhatia joins at "an inflection point" for the company, which aims to be "a digital bank with branches," CEO Tim Wennes said.
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Mariya Rosberg is named Americas head of banking and financial services at Marsh McLennan's Oliver Wyman unit; startup ZayZoon raised $15 million in a new funding round; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.
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Last year, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Integrated called off a deal to sell itself to MVB Financial after bank stocks took a hit in the aftermath of the regional bank failures. Capital hopes to expand its government-guaranteed lending with the transaction.
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Once a prominent figure spurring financial institutions to engage in cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried's downslide began with the collapse of the digital asset exchange FTX in late 2022 and hit rock bottom with his sentencing to 25 years in prison.
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But the 30-year fixed rate mortgage is still near 7%, and that remains the overhang on the housing market, Freddie Mac said.
March 28