Digital Mortgage Direct Page

The 3-year-old Climate First in St. Petersburg appears primed to take its renewable energy lending nationwide now that it's exiting the de novo phase.

By making it easier to enroll and access financial services such as buy now/pay later lending, the search giant hopes to enhance connections with users.

James Pruskowski is the CIO and co-founder of 16Rock, a full-service asset management firm specializing in Municipal Bonds. He leads the firm's flagship 16Rock Municipal Opportunities Fund LP, a long-short hedge fund, as well as the firm's long-only Separately Managed Account (SMA) client business.

Mr. Pruskowski spent nearly three decades at BlackRock starting in 1994 shortly after the firm was founded, when it had only 50 employees and $25 billion in assets under management. He was a Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, and Head of Municipal Bonds, Institutional & Wealth Management. Mr. Pruskowski was a member of the management committee and led a team of 58 investment professionals, driving strategic growth initiatives and innovation. He has a proven track record over multiple investment cycles and award-winning performance.

Before focusing on municipal bonds, Mr. Pruskowski was a multi-sector taxable fixed income portfolio manager. He was instrumental in launching BlackRock's Financial Institutions Group, which has grown into the world's leading insurance asset management business. He provided a wide array of services in balance sheet management, analytics, capital markets, and portfolio construction to banks, insurance companies, and official institutions worldwide. Mr. Pruskowski began his career in Risk & Quantitative Analytics as a risk analyst and programmer, playing a key role in the development of what is now known as BlackRock Solutions.

Mr. Pruskowski is a thought leader and content expert, known for his diverse skills, experience, and energetic, detail-oriented, and structured approach. His hands-on, can-do attitude drives results. As an industry advocate with strong brand awareness, he frequently speaks publicly, engages with the media, and collaborates with clients. He possesses a unique talent for understanding, designing, and clearly explaining markets and complex concepts in an accessible manner.

Rather than fueling uncertainty, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be devising strategies that facilitate clearer policies that bring more certainty to lending markets.

Paul Wnek is founder, CEO and principal solutions architect at ExpandAP, a 14x certified Salesforce B2B solutions architect, founder and CEO of Coalescence Cloud (Salesforce Consulting Partner) and Salesforce certified AI associate.

Fifty-seven percent of financial services firms now operate on a hybrid basis, according to new research from American Banker. Some banks are finding ways to maximize the positive aspects and minimize the negative ones.

A month after Gunjan Kedia was named the company's president, the Minneapolis firm has promoted Stephen Philipson and Felicia La Forgia into new roles that will cover Kedia's former duties.

The Kansas financial institution is using Copper Financial's Guided Investing product that matches members to predesigned portfolios that suit their risk profile.

Hagit Levy-Shalev is an associate professor in the Stan Ross Department of Accountancy in the Zicklin School of Business at CUNY's Baruch College.

ELGA Credit Union said it plans to acquire Marine Bank & Trust in an all-cash deal. The combination marks the 12th of the year involving a credit union buying a bank, keeping the industry on pace to establish a new record for such deals.