City National promotes Brandon Williams

September 12, 2025 4:28 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: City National promotes Brandon Williams to lead private banking and wealth management; a former letter carrier is sentenced to five and a half years for stealing over $10 million in checks from the mail; Lazard expands its North American investment banking franchise with two managing director hires; and more.

City National promotes exec to lead wealth management

City National Bank in Los Angeles has promoted Brandon Williams to become its head of private banking and wealth management.

Williams, a nine-year veteran at City National, started in his new role on an interim basis in June, after the previous head of private banking and wealth management, Abel Montanez, left the company. Montanez is now Northern Trust's president of wealth management in the West, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Williams, who was previously City National's head of East Coast private banking, now has the expanded role on a permanent basis. He reports to City National President and CEO Howard Hammond.

In a written statement, Hammond expressed confidence that under Williams' leadership, "we will realize our bold vision for wealth management and private banking in the U.S."

Since 2015, City National has been owned by Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada. —Kevin Wack

Former letter carrier who stole over $10M in checks gets 5 years

A former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier was sentenced on Sept. 8 to five and a half years in federal prison for stealing over $10 million in checks from the mail, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Rashad Deon Stolden, 34, from Huntington Beach, worked with a friend, also a letter carrier, to sell the stolen checks to co-conspirators who would negotiate the checks using fake identity documents, authorities said. In one instance, Stolden stole a $7.3 million Treasury check and sold it to a co-conspirator who negotiated it at a Tennessee bank and got over $1 million from depositing the check, federal officials said.

Stolden pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud on April 14. As part of his sentencing, he was ordered to pay $1,627,291 in restitution.

Prosecutors say Stolden used the money in part for luxury hotel stays. —Editorial Staff

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Lazard said to hire two managing directors from Bank of America

Lazard is expanding its investment banking franchise in North America with two managing director hires, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bank of America executives Bill Young and Jean Greene are both expected to join the bank following the completion of gardening leave, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. The two executives, who will both be managing directors focused on diversified industrials, will be based in New York, the people said.

Representatives for Lazard and Bank of America declined to comment, while Young and Greene did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

The hirings reflect the bank's ambition to grow under Chief Executive and Chairman Peter Orszag as part of its Lazard 2030 plan, which includes a target to double revenue by the end of the decade. —Kiel Porter, Bloomberg News

An illuminated sign for Deutsche Bank outside a bank branch in Frankfurt, Germany.

Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Deutsche Bank hires trio for Asia credit trading, sales

Deutsche Bank hired three for its Asia Pacific credit trading and sales desk, underscoring high demand for staff, as finance professionals shift among banks in the region. The lender hired Smit Rastogi for Asia Pacific credit trading based in Singapore and Karen Lee for Asia Pacific credit sales based in Hong Kong, according to a spokeswoman. Both started at the bank this week.

Rastogi was previously with UBS Asset Management. Tim Wynne also joined Deutsche Bank's Asia Pacific credit trading desk last month, based in New York.

The region has seen a spate of moves recently by credit traders and analysts. JPMorganChase lost two Hong Kong-based credit traders recently, along with its local head of credit sales, Bloomberg reported last month. BofA Securities recently tapped Barclays' regional credit sales head, Sandeep Tharian, and hired Sydney-based senior credit trader Rhys Baker from Deutsche Bank. —Denise Wee, Bloomberg News

Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg

Citigroup hires banking veteran Li Shan for key role in Asia

Citigroup named veteran Chinese dealmaker Li Shan to a key position in advising the firm's clients on navigating challenges across Asia.

The 62-year-old was named chairman of Japan, Asia North and Australia, marking a return for Li to global banking, according to an internal memo. He will be based in Hong Kong.

He most recently headed an investment firm. Li has also been on the board of Credit Suisse after stints at Goldman Sachs, UBS Group and Bank of China International over the past decades. While at Goldman, he helped organize a $4.2 billion share offering by China Telecom in 1997, the biggest such deal in Asia, excluding Japan, at the time.

"His deep understanding and experience across the business, political and academic fields will be beneficial in helping clients navigate through the challenges of the current macroenvironment," Marc Luet, Citi's head of Japan, Asia North and Australia and banking, said in the memo. —Denise Wee, Bloomberg News