Highlights and lowlights from banking in 2018

For years, women executives have called for more gender diversity in the industry’s highest ranks — and there are signs that CEOs and boards are finally listening.

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta, for example, had four openings in the C-suite this year due to executive retirements, and Chairman and CEO Bill Rogers filled three of them with women.

In January, SunTrust named Ellen Fitzsimmons (pictured, left) as general counsel, succeeding Raymond Fortin. The following month, it promoted Allison Dukes (center), previously its head of commercial banking, to chief financial officer, succeeding Aleem Gillani. More recently, in November, the bank said that consumer banking executive Ellen Koebler (right) will take over as chief risk officer when Jerome Lienhard retires at the end of the year.

For those keeping score, that means that come Jan. 1, four of the nine members of SunTrust’s executive council will be women.

Women are making big moves elsewhere as well, especially in the legal departments of big banks. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, TD Bank and M&T Bank are among the large banks whose general counsels are now women.

Of course, when it comes to elevating women to the corner office, banks clearly have more work to do. There are more than 130 bank holding companies in the U.S. with at least $10 billion of assets, and only three, KeyCorp’s Beth Mooney, CIT Group’s Ellen Alemany and Bank of the West’s Nandita Bakhshi are led by women. A fourth will join their ranks when Kelly Coffey, the head of JPMorgan Chase’s private bank, takes over as CEO of the $49 billion-asset City National Bank in Los Angeles in February.

Then again, CEOs are often groomed elsewhere in C-suite, in deputy-level roles. Looking at the progress made by banks like SunTrust, it’s clear that some of the industry’s biggest banks are taking important steps in the right direction.

It’s been more than two years since Wells Fargo’s phony-account-opening scandal burst into public view, and people are still losing their jobs.

In late October, the bank put two of its top executives, Chief Administrative Officer Hope Hardison and Chief Auditor David Julian, on administrative leave and removed them from the operating committee.

A few weeks later, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wells had fired dozens of regional managers who were initially spared when the bank let go 5,200 employees for creating some 3.5 million fake accounts to meet sales goals and collect bonus pay.

The moves appear to have been made to satisfy regulators — especially the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which had previously let misconduct slide but now looks to be turning up the heat.

According to a report from Bloomberg, both Hardison (pictured) and Julian had received so-called 15-day letters from the OCC before Wells took action. Those letters are typically a precursor to regulatory orders, such as fines or permanent bans from the industry.

Hardison, in particular, had faced scrutiny for her treatment of Wells employees who blew the whistle. The company’s board found in a 2017 report that she was aware of sales problems dating back to 2010.

It is noteworthy, too, that retail banking chief Mary Mack briefed OCC officials about the firings of the regional managers who oversaw the branches where much of the misconduct took place.

And it’s not just officials at the OCC who are frustrated with efforts by management to improve oversight and risk management. The Federal Reserve has barred Wells from growing its assets beyond $1.95 trillion until it is satisfied that Wells has put in place controls that will prevent further abuse of consumers. Reuters reported in early December that the Fed has rejected Wells’ latest plan.

Fifth Third in Cincinnati ended a decadelong hiatus from whole-bank acquisitions when it agreed in May to buy the $20 billion-asset MB Financial in Chicago for $4.6 billion.

The deal, once it closes in the first quarter, would be the largest by dollar volume in the country in more than two years and, at 276% of MB’s tangible book value, will provide a hefty payday for MB shareholders and CEO Mitch Feiger.

Feiger, who has run MB Financial since 1999, is set to become chairman and CEO of Fifth Third’s Chicago region. He will receive $15 million in compensation, including nearly $6 million in cash, when the deal closes.

The payoff justified a series of moves by Feiger (pictured), who guided his bank through a merger of equals in 2001 and the purchase of Taylor Capital in 2013, to build MB into one of the Chicago area’s most prominent commercial lenders.

For Fifth Third investors, the jury is still out. Fifth Third’s shares are down by more than 20% since the deal was announced as investors have questioned the plans for cost cutting and are frustrated that it could take as long as seven years for Fifth Third to earn back the expected dilution to its tangible book value.

Still, it was a bold move that will give the company a significantly larger presence in one of the nation’s most dynamic markets. Fifth Third will have the No. 4 market share in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area, or 6.5% of total deposits, once the deal closes. It currently ranks No. 10, with less than 3% of the market’s deposits.