Latest banking news roundup, March 10, 2023

Discover’s payments maven Diane Offereins to retire

Discover Financial Services' executive vice president and president of payment services, Diane Offereins, will retire on June 30, 2023 after 25 years at the company. She will be succeeded by Jason Hanson, the Riverwoods, Illinois-based card network announced in a press release. Offereins, a longtime honoree of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Finance, joined Discover in 1998 from credit card giant MBNA and held several executive positions within the company before rising to her current position in 2009. Hanson, who joined Discover in 2019 from FIS/Worldpay, currently is senior vice president of network operations at Discover. Offereins and Hanson will work together until Offereins' departure, whereupon Hanson will serve on Discover's executive committee and report to Discover CEO Roger Hochschild, the release said. –Kate Fitzgerald

Astra, Cross River Bank partner for instant disbursements

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

San Francisco-based fintech Astra has formed a strategic partnership with Cross River Bank to enable Astra's APIs to power instant disbursements through Visa Direct, according to a press release. The connection streamlines app developers' ability to embed push-to-card transfers into their own apps, bypassing the need to build their own payment-settlement processes. Astra, founded in 2016, serves companies in channels that are expanding payments acceptance across their enterprises, including in the trucking, gaming and cryptocurrency arenas, an Astra spokesperson said. –Kate Fitzgerald

SNAP pilots mobile payments for needy recipients

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service is partnering with several states to pilot the extension of mobile payments to low-income recipients of the national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program for the first time, Convenience Store News reports. SNAP recipients in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma will have the option to use a mobile wallet or scan their mobile device as an alternative to paying with a physical SNAP card. Mobile wallet providers, EBT payments processors and retailers are invited to participate in the pilot. The government is also working to extend online shopping for SNAP recipients to small and rural stores, after large merchants including Walmart adopted online SNAP purchases during the pandemic. More than 41 million Americans, or 12% of the total population, participated in SNAP last year, according to the nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.–Kate Fitzgerald

Worldline enters the metaverse

Payments technology company Worldline has opened a virtual white-label shopping mall in Decentraland, which hosts virtual worlds. The mall's stores at launch include German challenger bank Consorbank, Swiss hotel The Chedi Andermatt and about a half dozen others. Worldline's strategy is to provide a way for banks, retailers and other current and potential clients to build their own brands in the metaverse. The stores can accept payments via Worldline and build advertising and marketing campaigns. The metaverse is in early stages, though banks and other financial firms are considering use cases and ways to introduce their clients to the metaverse and other Web3 technology.-John Adams

JPMorgan expects another busy year for dealmakers in India

Consumption in Mumbai Ahead of India CPI Figures

Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Dealmakers in India should expect another strong year for mergers and acquisitions as investors and firms diversify into the South Asian nation, according to JPMorgan Chase.

India sealed its busiest M&A year ever with about $191 billion worth of transactions in 2022, bucking a global slump in deal activity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While it's unlikely for the country to repeat such a high mark this year, there will be decent deal flow to keep the bankers busy, said Nitin Maheshwari, JPMorgan's head of M&A for India. "More capital will continue to flow into India which is the biggest market for some global sponsors," Maheshwari said in an interview. Various trends could work in favor of the South Asian country, he said, such as competitive markets in Australia and Japan as well as the challenges of capital deployment in China. – Preeti Singh and Baiju Kalesh, Bloomberg News

State award for Financial Plus Credit Union’s Bergamooser

Brad Bergamooser, the president and CEO of Financial Plus Credit Union in Flint, Michigan, was named the Michigan Credit Union League's 2023 Professional of the Year. "Brad consistently lives out the vision of building up the credit union community. Brad's commitment to 'over investing' in our people, technology, and member service is demonstrated at every turn," said DeAnna Wallace, SVP HR and Member Experience at Financial Plus. Bergamooser, an attorney, has run Financial Plus since 2019. Founded in 1952, the credit union has 81,000 members and $1.2 billion in assets. – Chana R. Schoenberger

Mastercard to drop its first music NFT in April

Mastercard is using Web3 technology to drive the first Mastercard Artist Accelerator program with rising musical artists from Latin America and Europe, which invites consumers to participate by redeeming the new Mastercard Music Pass NFT which drops next month, according to a press release. Minted on the Polygon blockchain, the pass enables artists' fans to experiment with Web3 to unlock exclusive program content and experiences. The first two artists to join the accelerator program are Manu Manzo from Venezuela and London-based Young Athena; three more artists will be announced in coming weeks, Mastercard said in the release. –Kate Fitzgerald

Nomura Cuts Entertainment Budget as Rising Costs Hurt Profit

Views of Nomura and Other Financial Institutions Ahead of Earnings Report

Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Nomura slashed its entertainment budget for executives, people familiar with the matter said, as it stepped up efforts to rein in costs after some tough-going quarters. The firm decided to cut the spending plan by about 30% for the current fiscal year following weak earnings in the first half, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The move affects executive officers and senior managing directors, though it's unclear if managers outside of Japan are also hit, they said. Like its global peers, Japan's biggest brokerage is tightening its belt as Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda tries to restore profit growth. Nomura has been reviewing costs at its key retail business following a slump, and recently let go of several senior investment bankers in Asia and Europe amid a sluggish dealmaking environment. "It is not our policy to comment on individual cost line items but we are always committed to constantly reviewing and maintaining vigilant control of costs," Nomura said in an emailed response to Bloomberg questions.

Financial institutions globally are finding ways to trim expenses amid persistent inflation and the slowdown in dealmaking. BNP Paribas plans to move most of its Hong Kong staff out of offices in the city center to reduce costs, people familiar with the matter said this week. Citigroup is set to join Wall Street rivals JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs in cutting jobs.– Takashi Nakamichi, Bloomberg

Banking news roundup