First Federal reorganizes, Regions wins presidential award

May 24, 2024 10:00 AM

In this week's banking news roundup: First Federal Bank of Kansas City finalized a plan to reorganize its corporate structure; Regions Bank in Birmingham, Alabama, was one of 10 to win the "President's 'E' Award for Export Service"; Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group named Jim Weiss as Florida market president; and more.

First Federal Bank of Kansas City reorganizes corporate structure

First Federal Bank of Kansas City, a mutual savings bank headquartered in Lee's Summit, Missouri, finalized a plan to reorganize its corporate structure and form a mutual holding company under the name Cosperity Bancorp. As a result, First Federal is now a Missouri stock savings bank wholly owned by the new mutual holding company.

"We believe this structure will provide us with greater flexibility to grow and diversify into other financial service activities that will benefit our customers while preserving our institution's historical commitment to mutuality," said J.R. Buckner, bank president and CEO.

The mutual holding company also offers a path to facilitate future acquisitions and provides for new funding sources. "In its current state, the bank can only raise capital through organic earnings. The mutual holding company will present us with a new avenue to raise capital without going public, allowing us to remain independent and continue our focus on serving the community for years to come," said Chief Financial Officer David Houchen.

The bank's depositors voted to approve the reorganization at a special meeting in March, and this was followed by state and federal regulators' approval. — Jim Dobbs

Regions wins presidential award for helping exporters

Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Bank won an award at the Department of Commerce this week for its work in fostering U.S. trade. It was one of 10 to win the "President's 'E' Award for Export Service," which recognizes organizations that help boost U.S. exports. The bank has "demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, noting it has nearly doubled its export financing over the last four years. The bank's trade-related services include payments tools, the "letters of credit" that underpin international trade, working capital tools and other financing. "Our growth reflects the global demand for U.S. products and services," said Carson Strickland, head of Regions' global trade finance relationship team. — Polo Rocha

Citizens Financial Group taps Florida market president

Citizens Financial Group has named Jim Weiss to lead its Florida growth strategy as the state's market president. The Providence, Rhode Island-based bank has been steadily expanding in the Sunshine State, including by opening a private bank office in Palm Beach earlier this year. Weiss, who previously led Florida strategies at Busey Bank and Fifth Third Bank, will oversee Citizens' retail, business, wealth management, private bank and capital markets strategies in the state.

"Jim will help connect Florida's business owners with the expertise and capabilities Citizens can provide at every stage of their life cycle," said Steve Woods, head of corporate banking at Citizens, in a prepared statement.

The $220.4 billion-asset bank has 270 employees, five retail branches and two wealth centers across Florida. — Catherine Leffert

Huntington Bancshares names president of insurance unit

Huntington Bancshares announced this week that it has tapped Angie Klett as president of the company's insurance subsidiary. Klett, who comes to Huntington after nearly 20 years at Nationwide Insurance, will oversee the entire insurance business, including employee benefits, life insurance and commercial insurance. The leadership change comes as Mary Beth Sullivan, who's led the business since 2016, will retire, effective July 1, after nearly 20 years at the Columbus, Ohio-based bank.

The $194 billion-asset company announced last February that it was consolidating several lines of business to create its consumer and regional banking unit, which operates separately from the bank's commercial banking unit. The restructuring was designed to improve efficiency and improve revenue by pulling all wealth management services under one umbrella, CEO Steve Steinour said at the time. — Catherine Leffert

Texas Capital drafts new chief risk officer from Big 4 accounting firm

Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas has hired David Oman as its next chief risk officer, the company announced in a press release. Oman, who was most recently a managing director in PricewaterhouseCoopers' financial risk practice, succeeds Tim Storms, who plans to retire next month. Oman will report to Texas Capital CEO Rob Holmes and join the company's operating committee, according to the release. His job duties include managing Texas Capital's risk functions, its enterprise risk management practices and programs and its regulatory compliance, the release said. In addition to PwC, Oman has worked in risk-related jobs at Bank of New York Mellon, Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He also served as a managing director at JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and UBS, according to his LinkedIn profile. Storms, who joined Texas Capital in 2021 after a long career at JPMorgan, will serve as an advisor to the company through the end of this year. —Allissa Kline

Barclays hires BofA’s David King as global technology M&A head

Barclays has tapped Bank of America's David King as global head of its technology mergers and acquisitions business.

King will be based in San Francisco and report to Ihsan Essaid, Barclays' global head of M&A, according to a statement from the bank reviewed by Bloomberg News. In the new role, he'll work closely with global head of technology investment banking, Kristin Roth DeClark.

King was most recently global co-head of technology, media and telecom M&A at BofA. During a roughly 25-year career in investment banking, he has advised companies including Intel, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet. He also spent time growing the tech M&A business at Germany's Deutsche Bank.

"This appointment demonstrates our continued investment in technology investment banking, and our ability to attract the leading talent in the market," Roth DeClark said in the statement. — Michelle F. Davis, Bloomberg News

Veteran Chicago Citigroup banker Jim Glerum to retire

Jim Glerum, a long-time Citigroup investment banker, is retiring, according to an internal company memo Wednesday. A vice chairman based in Chicago, Glerum joined the firm in 2011. He spent four decades on Wall Street, advising large industrial clients. He previously worked at UBS Group and Credit Suisse.

"While recognized for his deep client relationships, Jim has served as a mentor, friend and partner to his many colleagues. We will miss his experience, expertise, genuine enthusiasm and partnership," Tyler Dickson and John Chirico said in the memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. Dickson is global co-head of banking, capital markets and advisory and Chirico is head of investment banking in North America.

A representative for Citigroup confirmed the contents of the memo. — Liana Baker and Todd Gillespie, Bloomberg News

Blue Owl Capital hires Goldman asset-management banker Chris Eby

Blue Owl Capital hired Goldman Sachs Group's co-head of asset-management investment banking, Chris Eby, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Eby is set to join the New York-based firm, which is led by co-chief executive officers Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, as head of strategy and corporate development in September, said the people, all of whom requested anonymity discussing a move that isn't yet public.

A representative for Blue Owl declined to comment and Goldman Sachs didn't have an immediate comment.

Eby joined Goldman as a managing director in 2021 from Credit Suisse, and was named co-head of asset-management investment banking alongside Kyle Van Fleet earlier this year.

Blue Owl has been among the most active alternative asset managers. In April, the firm agreed to buy Kuvare Asset Management as well as real estate lender Prima Capital Advisors. — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

HSBC’s Americas chief says he won’t compel 5 days in the office

HSBC Holdings won't force U.S. staffers back to the office five days a week unless new regulations from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority require it.

"We will adjust to the Finra rules, we will make sure whoever needs to be here five days a week will be here five days a week, but I don't want to decree people coming back," Michael Roberts, chief executive officer for the U.S. and Americas, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. "I want them to come back because they want to come back and they feel productive and they feel good about it."

Even without new requirements, HSBC's New York office attendance has doubled to 80% after the company opened its new building to employees, Roberts said at the offices in New York's Hudson Yards neighborhood. —Todd Gillespie and Manus Cranny, Bloomberg News