Latest banking news

In the leadoff spot is a story about a partnership between a Goldman Sachs unit and a company called Derivative Path to provide community and regional banks with access to global payments capabilities. Meanwhile, five big Canadian banks are collaborating "to raise the standard" for compliance with know-your-customer regulations.

Scroll through to see what you might have missed this week in banking, payments and more.

Goldman Sachs tech collaboration pushes cross-border payments to small banks

Goldman Sachs
Bloomberg News
Derivative Path, a technology firm that serves community and regional banks, is partnering with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking to support foreign exchange and international payments. Derivative Path will use TxB to offer digital payments for other financial institutions, aiming to reduce the barrier to entry to currency markets for smaller banks by using Goldman's Global Payments Network. “Regional and community banks now have access to the same global payments capabilities as large money center banks,” Art Brieske, global head of payments for Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking, said in a news release. —John Adams

Five Canadian banks centralize their KYC requirements for capital markets

BMO Financial Group Bank of Montreal
Ben Nelms/Bloomberg
Five of Canada’s largest domestic banks have partnered with CanDeal Group to centralize their know-your-customer requirements in capital markets. Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada are participating. CanDeal Group began the effort in 2020 through its CanDeal Innovations division. “Collectively we see this initiative as an opportunity to raise the standard for KYC compliance," Loretta Marcoccia, chief operating officer of global banking and markets at Scotiabank, said in a press release. —Miriam Cross

Google offers $90M settlement in app store fee fight

Google play app icon
Justin Chin/Bloomberg
Tech companies like Google and Apple face the same kind of heat for their app-store fees as the major card networks do for their interchange pricing. On the Google Play store, the default fee is 30%. To settle a legal challenge to this practice, Google proposed setting up a $90 million fund to repay app developers who made $2 million or less in annual revenue from 2016-2021 (a policy enacted last year lowers the default fee to 15% for a developer's first million in revenue). The minimum payout from this fund is $250, and about 48,000 developers are eligible to apply, Reuters reports. — Daniel Wolfe

Citigroup hires Goldman Sachs veteran to lead treasury, trade operations

A sign sits on top of the skyscraper housing the Citigroup Inc. offices at 25 Canada Square in the Canary Wharf business, financial and shopping district in London, U.K.
Chris J Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Citigroup hired Artie Ambrose as head of treasury and trade solutions operations, according to an internal memo. Ambrose, who was most recently the global head of treasury services operations at Goldman Sachs, is set to begin his new role at Citi on Aug. 1. He will report to Nicola Kane, who leads the bank’s institutional clients group operations. Ambrose’s mission will include reducing processing risk and enhancing treasury and trade solutions products and services by adding more automation. Citi has identified the highly profitable treasury and trade solutions segment as one of five core businesses that underpin CEO Jane Fraser’s “strategy refresh.” — Allissa Kline

Bank of America forms natural-resources, energy-transition group

bank-of-america-bloomberg-news
Bloomberg News
Bank of America formed a new natural-resources and energy-transition investment-banking group, making it the latest Wall Street firm to reorganize to better serve clients focused on decarbonization and sustainability. “Energy transition activities represent a meaningful and growing segment of our activities and are a key strategic focus,” Ray Wood, global head of natural resources at the bank, wrote in a memo seen by Bloomberg News. “Our clients have begun to align capital deployment and acquisition strategies with their 2050 net-zero carbon-emission goals, and are increasingly looking to us for strategic advice and transaction support as they navigate this transition.” Michael Cannon and Randy Bayless will be co-heads of U.S. energy, according to the memo, while Alex Kroner and Gaurav Singhal will manage energy transition. Wood will lead the newly formed unit, composed of four areas: energy, energy transition, power and renewables, and mining. Leadership for power and renewables and for mining remains unchanged. A bank spokesman confirmed the memo’s contents.
“Bank of America is well-positioned to advise our clients on renewables, sustainability and net zero as a business imperative,” Wood wrote, noting that energy transition generally includes decarbonization, digitalization and decentralization of the energy and power value chains, which “represent a strong and growing segment of our investment-banking activities and wallet share.” — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

Landmark Bancorp buying fellow Kansas bank

Landmark Bancorp in Manhattan, Kansas, agreed to acquire Freedom Bancshares in Overland Park, Kansas. The $1.3 billion-asset Landmark said it would pay $33.4 million in cash for Freedom Bancshares. The $223 million-asset Freedom “has been a strong commercial bank in Overland Park since its formation and the transaction allows an excellent opportunity to expand our presence in more urban areas,” Landmark President and CEO Michael Scheopner said in a press release. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. — Jim Dobbs

TikTok tests digital payment tab for shopping

TikTok app
Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
The video hosting service TikTok has developed a Shop feed tab that enables users to view and buy products from sellers and other businesses in clothing, electronics and other retail categories, reports TechCrunch. TikTok's new shop tab is a cart icon and a menu on its user page that links to ordering and payment functions. TikTok is testing the tab in Indonesia ahead of deployment in other markets. TikTok earlier partnered with Block (Square) to allow merchants to send consumers directly to their online stores from videos, advertisements and other content. TikTok also uses Block's technology to allow users of TikTok for business to set up online stores. —John Adams

Bank of Texas CEO Bagwell stepping down 

bok financial website
Adobe Stock
Norm Bagwell will step down at the end of the year as chief executive of Bank of Texas in Midland and executive vice president of its parent company, BOK Financial Corp. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, BOK said Friday in an SEC filing. Bagwell, 59, formerly headed the Dallas region at JPMorgan Chase. He earned a reputation as an old-school relationship builder, and struck a series of deals to expand BOK's footprint in commercial and corporate banking across the southern Midwest. BOK Financial said it plans to appoint a new CEO for the Texas market "in the near future." — Victoria Zhuang
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