Gov. Abbott declares Texas the 'financial capital of America'

Published May 29, 2026 3:00 PM

1 Min Read

In this week's banking news roundup:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared his state the "financial capital of America" at the Texas Bankers Association's annual convention last week.
Northwest Bank in Columbus, Ohio, named Chad Ballard chief information officer.
Deutsche Bank terminated some staff as a result of its client relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and more.

Gov. Abbott calls Texas America’s new financial capital

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared his state the "financial capital of America" last week. The remarks were made at the Texas Bankers Association's annual convention in Dallas during a fireside chat moderated by TBA President Chris Furlow.

The governor based his declaration on Texas having the highest number of financial services employees and banks in the nation, along with a business-friendly regulatory climate and the emergence of the Texas Stock Exchange. Abbott also noted the contrast in Texas' pro-business environment with what he called the "socialist policies, hyper-taxation and government weaponization" in other states like New York, which he described as incompatible with being the epicenter of American capitalism and free enterprise.

Furlow echoed the governor's sentiments in a May 26 press release. "Our banking sector's strength and depth is a true differentiator not seen in other states or other countries. America is choosing Texas. The world is choosing Texas," Furlow said in the release. —Traci Parks

Northwest taps Chad Ballard as chief information officer

Chad Ballard was named chief information officer of Northwest Bank, the Columbus, Ohio-based firm announced in a May 26 press release. Effective May 18, Ballard will lead the bank's information technology strategy and operations, and report to Northwest President and CEO Louis Torchio.

Ballard brings more than 25 years of experience to his new role. Most recently, he served as chief information officer for shared services operations at Wells Fargo, where he developed a know-your-customer platform and deployed AI agents to enhance operational efficiency. He has also held leadership roles at JPMorganChase and PNC, leading core banking, digital channels and AI platform transformations.

"Chad brings deep experience in technology leadership and a strong understanding of how technology supports growth, innovation and risk management in financial services," Torchio said in the release. "His leadership will be instrumental as we continue to invest in systems and capabilities that support our ongoing transformation and growth." —Traci Parks

Lazard hires Daniel Burton-Morgan to head ECM in North America

Lazard has hired Daniel Burton-Morgan to the newly created role of head of equity capital markets advisory in North America, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Burton-Morgan previously led Bank of America's ECM Americas financial sponsor origination desk. He will join Lazard after a standard period of leave, the person said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. Representatives for Lazard and BofA declined to comment.

Burton-Morgan will report to Tim Donahue, co-head of North America financial advisory and global head of capital solutions.

The hire is part of the Lazard 2030 strategy platform, which aims to expand the ranks of managing directors at the investment bank.

With Burton-Morgan in place, Lazard will now have similar ECM capabilities to those it has in Europe, the person said. —Tim LeeMaster, Bloomberg News

Deutsche Bank terminated staff over Epstein ties, Sewing says

Deutsche Bank terminated some staff as a result of its client relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing.

"Where appropriate, we have taken personnel measures, this includes ending our employment relationships with certain individuals," Sewing told the German lender's shareholders at their annual general meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday.

"As outlined in 2020, we acknowledge our error in accepting Mr. Epstein as a client in 2013, as well as the weaknesses in our processes at that time," Sewing said.

The bank invested "significant resources" in training as well as controls and strengthened its financial crime prevention team, the CEO said.

"We have been fully transparent, have addressed this matter with our supervisory authorities, adjusted our risk tolerance and systematically remediated these issues," Sewing said.

There is no indication that Deutsche Bank management board members "behaved inappropriately" in the bank's business relationship with Epstein, Norbert Winkeljohann, a member of the company's supervisory board, told shareholders. —Nicholas Comfort and Nick Heubeck, Bloomberg News

Jefferies hires Citi’s Ed Wehle for global tech services banking

Jefferies Financial Group has hired Ed Wehle as global head of technology services investment banking, a person familiar with the matter said.The over 30-year investment bank veteran was previously at Citi, which he joined in 2023. He earlier worked at Barclays.

Representatives for Citi and Jefferies declined to comment.

IT services has seen a recent slew of M&A including International Business Machines' $11 billion acquisition of Confluent, which closed in March, and Capgemini's $3.3 billion acquisition of WNS Holdings last year.

The new hire adds to a clutch Jefferies has made globally this month.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that the bank is bringing on Gideon Volschenk from Standard Chartered to head its metals and mining banking team in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Jefferies also hired two senior bankers, Ian Wellby and Arnout Harteveld, for its EMEA real estate team in London. —Ryan Gould, Bloomberg News