Latest banking news

June 10, 2022 3:36 PM

Can't get enough M&A news? Then this package may strike your fancy, with items on the completion of a Citizens Financial acquisition and new deals in Texas, Illinois and Virginia.

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

JPMorgan Chase, PayPal, Plaid invest in business data startup

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

Codat, a London-based technology firm that uses an application programming interface to connect financial institutions to businesses' payment and accounting systems, has raised $100 million from investors including JPMorgan Chase, PayPal, Shopify and Plaid — companies that also partner with Codat on product development. Codat's technology is designed to streamline data transfers tied to real-time transactions. It has signed up more than 200 clients, including banks and fintechs like Brex, Jeeves and Pipe. "We're in the age of 'dial up' when it comes to business data," Pete Lord, Codat's CEO, said in a press release. "Despite radical advancements in other areas of technology, in 2022 the majority of small-business systems still don't speak to each other." The new investment values Codat at $825 million, according to Bloomberg. — John Adams

Citizens Financial wraps up another acquisition

A Citizens Financial Group Inc. Branch Ahead Of Earnings Figures

Ty Wright/Bloomberg News

Citizens Financial Group completed the last of a string of acquisitions it announced last year. The Providence, Rhode Island-based company said closed its deal for DH Capital, a capital markets advisory firm serving companies in the technology and communications sectors. DH Capital, which is headquartered in New York and operates an office in Boulder, Colorado, will be a division of Citizens Capital Markets. Announced in December, the deal was the fifth and final acquisition that Citizens unveiled in 2021. —Allissa Kline

Biz2Credit reports slight increase in business loan approval rates

The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index reported a 0.1% increase in small-business loan approval percentages at big banks, from 15.3% in April to 15.4% in May. Small banks also saw a 0.1% increase, from 20.8% in April to 20.9% in May. Approvals among nonbanker lenders experienced similar improvements. “The continued incremental increase in loan approval percentages is encouraging. … For the past year, it really has been a case of ‘slow and steady wins the race,’ ” Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit's chief executive, said in a press release. — Paige Hagy

Industry group likes the way JPMorgan Chase bankers dress

Robert Caplin/Bloomberg News

Chase Bank won an Image of the Year award, recognizing employee uninforms that embody the brand, from the Network Association of Uniform Manufacturers and Distributors on Tuesday, an award that recognizes fashionable employee uniforms that embody the brand. Chase won the Retail, Banks category for its Chase Style branch employee wardrobe. The 2021 Chase Style collection included designs from Deidre Jefferies, a Black designer who competed with two others in a program called Banking on Style that the bank launched in 2020 with Lands’ End and the media company Essence Communications to raise the profiles of Black designers. One part of the capsule wardrobe Jefferies created for the contest was a woman’s cardigan with buttons in the shape of the Chase logo. — Miriam Cross

Coinbase retracted job offers to recruits from some of Wall Street's biggest banks

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News

Individuals from at least 10 of the biggest financial firms left Wall Street to join Coinbase Global only to have the company rescind their employment offers. Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were among the firms that people departed to join Coinbase, according to a talent directory posted by the company. They’re part of a group who last week received an email from the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange rescinding offers and announcing a freeze on hiring for the “foreseeable future.” A Coinbase spokesperson declined to comment, instead pointing to a June 7 blog post by the company’s chief people officer announcing a new talent hub to help the affected individuals. So far, more than 300 individuals have appeared in the portal. Coinbase was also hiring software engineers from banks including Credit Suisse Group, Capital One Financial and Goldman Sachs, as well as hedge funds Millennium Management and AQR Capital Management. Several tech companies, including Uber Technologies, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms, Twitter and TikTok, were also listed in the hub. Coinbase cited market conditions and ongoing “prioritization efforts” for forcing it to freeze hiring. Along with the plunge in crypto prices, Coinbase shares have tumbled by more than 70% since its April 2021 initial public offering. The company ballooned to 4,948 full-time employees from about 1,700 just a year ago.

— Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Bloomberg News, with assistance from Yueqi Yang

American Bank in Texas acquiring TexStar National

Double color pawn amid other chess pieces on board

Andrey Popov/Andrey Popov - stock.adobe.com

American Bank Holding in Corpus Christi, Texas, said it agreed to acquire TexStar National Bank in a bid for greater market share in San Antonio. TexStar National, a unit of TexStar Bancshares in Universal City, Texas, has assets of $458 million and six branches in the San Antonio metropolitan area. The combined bank would have assets of about $2.5 billion with branches in the Corpus Christi, Port Aransas, Rockport, Victoria, Goliad, San Antonio, New Braunfels, Austin and Houston markets in Texas, the companies said in a news release. The price of the deal was not disclosed. — Jim Dobbs

First Waterloo buying fellow Illinois bank

First Waterloo Bancshares in Waterloo, Illinois, said it has agreed to acquire Village Bancshares in St. Libory, Illinois. The $800 million-asset First Waterloo, parent of First National Bank, would gain about $116 million of assets under the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Financial terms were not disclosed. “We believe that we are stronger together and can better serve the needs of our customers and our communities through this merger. We also believe” Village “customers will benefit greatly from the expanded products and resources First National Bank is able to bring to the table,” Rick Parks, president and CEO of First Waterloo, said in a press release. — Jim Dobbs

Virginia bank selling RIA business to wealth manager

The wealth management firm Cary Street Partners in Richmond, Virginia, said it is buying Dixon, Hubard, Feinour & Brown, a registered investment advisor business, from Atlantic Union Bank in Richmond. The deal continues a shopping spree for Cary Street in the past few years and would increase its portfolio of managed assets, now roughly $5.4 billion, to around $7 billion. Atlantic Union would take a minority ownership stake in Cary Street, according to a press release. The price of the deal was not disclosed. It's scheduled to close by the end of June. — Victoria Zhuang

Amex unveils perks-based crypto card

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

American Express said Friday that it will roll out a rewards-based cryptocurrency card this year enabling users to transact in U.S. dollars with the crypto firm Abra. The Abra Crypto Card, leveraging Abra’s tools for trading over 100 cryptocurrencies, will enable users to earn crypto back on any purchase. The card, designed to streamline buying and selling NFTs, includes access to Amex Offers for discounts on shopping, dining and travel, plus early access to ticket sales and purchase protections. It will operate on i2c’s digital platform, Amex said. — Kate Fitzgerald

New chief financial officer at ANCB in Pennsylvania

ACNB Corp. in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, named Jason H. Weber executive vice president/treasurer and chief financial officer of the $2.8 billion-asset company and its banking subsidiary ACNB Bank. Weber, who was recently executive vice president and chief financial officer for the $754 million-asset Atlantic Community Bankers Bank in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, succeeded David W. Cathell, who retired on May 31. “This role is integral as we move forward with strategic plans for both organic and inorganic growth,” James P. Helt, president and chief executive of ACNB Corp. and ACNB Bank, said in a press release. — Frank Gargano

Credit union in Maine gets go-ahead to expand

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Maine State Credit Union received approval from the Maine Bureau of Financial Institutions to expand. The $587 million-asset credit union already serves four of Maine’s 18 counties: Androscoggin, Cumberland, Kennebec and Sagadahoc. It will expand into Knox, Lincoln, Somerset and Waldo counties. “Growth and new market share are essential to our members. Our goal is to always provide excellent service, innovative technology, and competitive rates. By expanding, we’re keeping that promise,” Stephen Wallace, the credit union's president and CEO, said in a press release. — Paige Hagy