M&T Bank creates new chief comms role, Citi cuts investment bank jobs, McKinsey publishes new AI report

M&T Bank has chosen Sarah Knakmuhs as its first chief communications officer. This newly created role at the Buffalo, New York-based bank will task Knakmuhs with bolstering M&T's communication platforms and capabilities and raising the bank's profile with employees, shareholders, the media and more. Previously, Knakmuhs served as senior counselor at the global advisory group H/Advisors Abernathy. She will be based in Washington, D.C. "Sarah's appointment to Chief Communications Officer represents an important step toward enhancing M&T Bank's ongoing dialogue with our internal and external audiences," Chris Kay, head of enterprise platforms, said in a press release. —Miriam Cross

Citigroup is cutting jobs in its investment banking division in London, becoming the latest Wall Street giant to trim head count as the slump in global dealmaking enters its third year.

The moves will affect roughly 20 employees, according to people familiar with the matter. The bulk of the cuts include junior staffers in the analyst to director levels, though some managing directors will also be affected, according to the people, who asked not to be identified.

A spokeswoman for Citigroup declined to comment. 

With just days left in the month of March, global dealmaking volume is still about 17% lower than it was at this point in the first quarter of 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Many chief executives have been hesitant to do deals as central banks around the world have ratcheted up interest rates in recent years, creating economic uncertainty. 

In response, Citigroup and its rivals have been shedding jobs as they seek to contain costs while they wait for a meaningful rebound in merger activity. —Archana Narayanan, Vinicy Chan and Swetha Gopinath, Bloomberg News

When setting up generative artficial intelligence, banks derive the most value when they institute it from headquarters, rather than letting each division design its own gen AI rollout, according to a new report from the management consulting firm McKinsey. "Financial institutions using a centrally-led gen AI operating model are reaping the biggest rewards," the McKinsey consultants wrote. That's because it's hard to hire the right people to code and manage gen AI projects, so banks are better off allocating those people from the top down. A centralized team can also more easily keep up with developments in how large language models are evolving, and risk management is stronger if done in one place within a bank, McKinsey said. As the technology gets better and moves into more areas, banks may want to delegate leadership of gen AI initiatives to individual units, the report noted. —Chana R. Schoenberger