Latest banking news, Feb. 24, 2023

TD gets green light to buy U.S. brokerage Cowen

Bloomberg

TD Bank Group has received regulatory approval to complete one of its two pending acquisitions. The Toronto company announced Friday that it has secured all of the necessary approvals to purchase the U.S. brokerage Cowen, and it expects the acquisition to close on March 1. The $1.3 billion cash deal, which was announced in August, includes an established U.S. equity sales and trading platform and a global research platform, two capabilities that TD has long coveted, executives said in August. TD continues to wait for a regulatory thumbs-up on the acquisition of First Horizon Corp. in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier this month, the two banks extended the deal's targeted closing date by three months to May 27. —Allissa Kline

Western Union adds installment payments for transfers

JEAN CLAUDE COUTAUSSE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Western Union and fintech Beforepay have partnered to allow consumers to borrow before sending funds across borders. Called Send Now/Pay Later, consumers can borrow up to $1,300 through Beforepay's early-wage access platform and Western Union's international network. The advance can then be paid to Beforepay in installments, similar to a buy now/pay later loan. The credit is subject to a 5% fee. Send Now/Pay Later is available in more than 200 countries and territories. The firms hope to boost the size of transfers, which average about $300. In a release, Western Union cited internal research in Australia that found 44% of consumers would like to have an installment option when transferring funds across borders. —John Adams

Stripe rolls out payment card fraud-scoring service

Stripe has launched the Enhanced Issuer Network, which provides risk scores for payment card transactions to help reduce fraud and unnecessary transaction declines, the company said in a press release. Discover Financial Services and Capital One Financial have signed on as initial partners to use Fraud Radar, Stripe's fraud-prevention service. Stripe said its fraud-detection service can reduce card fraud by 8% and boost transaction authorizations by 1% to 2%. Substack, the user-generated content platform, is one of the first merchants using Stripe's new service. —Kate Fitzgerald

Amex to distribute $1 million in grants to historic-restaurant operators

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

American Express is working with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to award $1 million in grants to 25 operators of small, historic restaurants, the card network announced Thursday. To qualify to receive a grant of $40,000, applicants must operate an eligible restaurant located within a historic building or neighborhood and have a diverse impact on the local community and cuisine. Grant recipients will also win one year of free access to Amex's ResyOS restaurant-management software. Anyone can nominate a favorite establishment through March 12, 2023. This is the third consecutive year Amex and the National Trust have offered grants to operators of historic restaurants. —Kate Fitzgerald

Adventure Credit Union names CEO

Adventure Credit Union

Adventure Credit Union in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has tapped insider Amanda Garabedian as its next president and chief executive. Garabedian has been interim CEO of the $437 million-asset credit union since September 2022, after taking over for Ann Marie Nelson, who previously held the role since May 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. Adventure's prior CEO, Brian McVeigh, died in 2020 after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. "We have an amazing team at Adventure. … It's truly an honor to have this opportunity to lead the organization," Garabedian said in a press release Thursday. —Frank Gargano

Varo names chief product officer

Varo Bank, a nationally chartered bank in San Francisco with neobank roots, said Thursday that Wook Chung would become its chief product officer. He will be in charge of product and strategy at Varo, and a "key leader" in Varo Tech, the company's technology organization, according to a press release. Chung most recently managed in-app and online product experiences as vice president of product, design and engineering at SoFi. Before that, he held product management roles at tech companies that include Facebook, Twitter, Samsung, Google and Microsoft. "Our goal is to create industry-leading products that enable our customers to build financial power, prosperity, and live better lives," Colin Walsh, Varo Bank founder and CEO, said in the release. — Miriam Cross

Fintech trade association names Phil Goldfeder as CEO

Fintech Financial technology Cryptocurrency investment and digital money. Business concept on virtual screen

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The American Fintech Council, one of two organizations based in Washington that advocate for innovation in financial technology, said Wednesday that Phil Goldfeder would become its CEO in March. He replaces the council's first CEO, Garry Reeder, who left in September. Goldfeder most recently served as senior vice president of global public affairs at Cross River Bank, a financial institution in Teaneck, New Jersey, that focuses on embedded finance. He was also a member of the New York State Assembly and before that served as a senior advisor to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "Phil's dedication to building a more inclusionary financial system makes him the ideal choice to lead AFC's next stage of growth," New York State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, a Democrat, said in a press release. —Miriam Cross

Florida private-equity firm launches credit union-focused fintech fund

Two debit credit cards online mobile shopping

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Black Dragon Capital, a Boca Raton, Florida-based private-equity firm, is launching a fintech fund to invest in technologies aimed at credit unions. The new fund will be led by the firm's founder and CEO, Louis Hernandez Jr., and credit union industry veteran Benson Porter. Porter, who will join the fund as an executive advisor, recently retired from BECU in Tekwila, Washington, serving as president and CEO for the last decade, and had previously held the same role at First Tech Credit Union in Hillsboro, Oregon. Porter and Hernandez have worked on credit union-focused technology projects together over the last 20 years. Black Dragon Capital invests in early-stage and middle-market technology sectors such as e-commerce, media technology and fintech. —Catherine Leffert