Berkshire Hills-Brookline merger nears completion

August 29, 2025 2:15 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: The proposed merger of Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Brookline Bancorp is expected to finalize on Sept. 1; Flagstar Financial's shareholders will vote on a proposal to simplify the bank's regulatory structure this October; former Credit Suisse executives agreed to settle a suit filed by shareholders claiming they failed to maintain adequate risk management; and more.

Berkshire Hills-Brookline merger moves closer to the finish line

The proposed merger of Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Brookline Bancorp, which has received all of the necessary approvals from various regulators, is expected to be finalized on Sept. 1, the two Boston-based companies said this week in a press release.

The combined entity, which will have $24 billion of assets and 145 branches in the Northeast, will be renamed Beacon Financial. Its subsidiary will be called Beacon Bank & Trust, though Berkshire Bank, Brookline Bank, Bank Rhode Island and PCSB Bank will operate as divisions of Beacon Bank & Trust until a systems conversion takes place in early 2026, the release said.

The $1.1 billion, all-stock deal was announced in mid-December. It was the sixth-largest bank M&A deal in 2024, during which there were 130 bank deals announced, according to Laurie Havener-Hunsicker, an analyst at Seaport Research Partners. —Allissa Kline

Flagstar shareholders to vote on holding-company proposal

Flagstar Financial will host a special shareholder meeting in October, at which time shareholders will vote on a proposal to dissolve Flagstar Financial as a holding company.

The meeting is scheduled to take place online at 10 a.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 15, the Hicksville, New York-based bank said in a press release.

Flagstar Financial is the holding company of Flagstar Bank. The pending dissolution is a rare tactic, but one that Flagstar's executives have said would cut costs and simplify the bank's regulatory structure. If the plan is approved by shareholders and regulators, Flagstar Financial, the holding company, will be folded into Flagstar Bank, leaving the bank as the surviving entity.

When Flagstar Chairman and CEO Joseph Otting unveiled the plan last month, he said it would shave off about $15 million in annual costs and remove the Federal Reserve from regulatory oversight, leaving the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as Flagstar's primary regulator. —Allissa Kline

Pascal Mora/Bloomberg

Ex-Credit Suisse executives settle risk suit for $115M

A group of former Credit Suisse Group executives and directors, including former chairman Urs Rohner, agreed to pay $115 million to settle a suit filed by shareholders who claim they failed to maintain adequate risk management, resulting in losses between 2020 and 2021.

The settlement, which was preliminarily approved by a New York judge on Thursday, will be paid to UBS Group, as the successor to Credit Suisse, and will be funded by the insurers of the directors and officers, according to court documents.

The shareholders, led by the Employees Retirement System for the City of Providence, claimed the risk management failures led to losses when multiple counterparties defaulted, including Malachite Capital Management, Greensill Capital Management and Archegos Capital Management. —Bob Van Voris, Bloomberg News

Adobe Stock

BNP said to hire Huatai’s Jiang to lead Chinese share-sale deals

BNP Paribas has hired Huatai Securities' Doris Jiang to lead Chinese equity capital market deals for the French bank, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jiang was recently Huatai's head of ECM execution in Hong Kong, her LinkedIn profile shows.

A representative for BNP Paribas declined to comment. Huatai didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hiring comes as Hong Kong share sales have soared to a four-year high, thanks to a rush in listings by Chinese companies. Investment banking jobs in the city have also shown signs of recovery after a yearslong slump.

BNP Paribas Asia-Pacific ECM head Christopher Wong left the firm earlier this year. Mrinal Parekh, who led ECM for Southeast Asia and India, succeeded Wong.–Dave Sebastian and Julia Fioretti, Bloomberg News

Bloomberg

Citi shuffles EMEA debt capital markets team with hire

Citigroup is reshaping its U.K., Europe, Middle East & Africa Debt Capital Markets team, and has hired former JPMorganChase banker Rob Cascarino as part of the changes.

Cascarino will be based in London and co-head DCM for the U.K. and EMEA alongside Uday Malhotra, previously the head of the region's Loans and Leveraged Finance teams. They will both report to head of DCM Richard Zogheb, according to an internal memo shared with Bloomberg News.

At JPMorgan, Cascarino held a number of senior roles including leading a global team focused on fund- and asset-level financings and risk management solutions, as well as previously serving as chief operating officer for EMEA leveraged finance, the memo said.

Cascarino is the latest in a wave of bankers to join Citigroup since Vis Raghavan's appointment as head of banking in 2024, as he seeks to boost Citi's share of the global investment banking fee wallet. —Ronan Martin and Dinesh Nair, Bloomberg News