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

ByEditorial Staff
March 22, 2024 1:09 PM
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M&T Bank creates new chief communications officer role, Citi cuts London investment banking jobs as deal drought persists, new report by McKinsey advises banks to institute artificial intelligence from headquarters rather than by divisions, and more in our weekly news roundup.

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M&T Bank creates new chief communications officer role

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
A Citi sign outside a bank location.
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Citi cuts London investment bank jobs as deal drought persists

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
Generative AI won't transform banking anytime soon BankThink
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Banks should manage gen AI centrally: McKinsey

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
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Truist taps BofA’s Wirtz for asset-management dealmaking

Truist Financial hired Markus Wirtz from Bank of America to advise on asset-management dealmaking, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. 

Wirtz, who is based in New York, will join Truist in May as a managing director, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing an appointment that isn't yet public. 

Representatives for Truist and Bank of America declined to comment. 

Wirtz joined Bank of America in 2017 after previously working at UBS Group and Deutsche Bank, according to his LinkedIn profile. He's advised on transactions including Energy Capital Partners' sale to Bridgepoint Group and Nuveen's acquisition of a controlling stake in Arcmont Asset Management. —Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News
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Payments technology group appoints first female chief

The Secure Technology Alliance, based in Redwood City, Calif., has appointed veteran payments technology executive Christina Hulka as its new executive director, where she will also lead the U.S. Payments Forum and the Identity and Access Forum. Hulka replaces Jason Bohrer, who left to pursue outside opportunities. Hulka, the first woman to head the standards-focused, cross-industry payments organization, previously was executive director and chief operating officer at FIDO Alliance, the global association establishing authentication standards to eliminate passwords. Before that, Hulka was a director of chip-card operations at Visa and also served on the board of the payment card industry standards group EMVCo. —Kate Fitzgerald
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JPMorgan appoints heads of new sports investment banking group

JPMorgan Chase has set up a dedicated sports investment banking team as Wall Street banks battle for fees in an increasingly competitive corner of the mergers and acquisitions market. 

The U.S. bank has appointed Eric Menell and Gian Piero Sammartano to co-lead the new sports investment banking coverage group, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. 

A spokesperson for JPMorgan confirmed the contents of the memo.

Investment banks helped steer about $25 billion of sports-related M&A in 2023, Bloomberg-compiled data show, making it the third consecutive year of record-breaking transaction values in the sector.

JPMorgan was one of the leading advisory banks in the sector last year, working on deals including British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe's purchase of a roughly 25% stake in the English football club Manchester United. — David Hellier and Dinesh Nair, Bloomberg News
Morgan Stanley's New York City headquarters.
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Morgan Stanley targets $1 billion for energy-transition bets

Morgan Stanley's asset-management arm plans to raise at least $1 billion for a new fund dedicated to energy-transition bets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The vehicle, which will be overseen by Morgan Stanley investment management's infrastructure team, will seek to deliver private equity-like returns, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman declined to comment.

Firms across Wall Street have increasingly sought to back companies that aim to combat climate change, in part because of heightened investor interest in the sector. 

TPG recently hired Scott Lebovitz, Goldman Sachs Group's co-head of infrastructure, to oversee the build-out of TPG's Rise Climate transition infrastructure business. Last year, KKR & Co. tapped another Goldman partner to co-lead a climate strategy within its infrastructure business. —Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News
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Comerica snags PNC’s Franco to run branch network after Davenport retires

Comerica has hired Larry Franco, a former PNC Bank retail executive, to fill the soon-to-be-vacated role of national director of retail banking, the Dallas-based company announced in a press release. Franco will succeed Rhonda Davenport, who plans to retire in April after a 36-year career at the bank, according to the release. He will report to Cassandra McKinney, the executive director of Comerica's retail bank, and oversee more than 400 branches across five states, the company said. Before joining Comerica, Franco was PNC's Southwest territory executive, in charge of 501 branches. He spent 14 years at BBVA before it was acquired by PNC in 2021. — Allissa Kline
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Ex-SVB Private exec joins Berkshire Hills in a new role

Berkshire Hills Bancorp has hired banking veteran Torrance Childs as its first chief commercial deposit officer, the Boston-based parent company of Berkshire Hills Bank announced this week. Childs, who most recently worked at SVB Private, a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, will report to Jim Brown, Berkshire's head of commercial and private banking, the company said. Childs will work with both the private banking and commercial teams to develop an integrated platform across the two areas. At SVB Private, Childs was the head of private banking offices. Before that role, he was president of private banking at Boston Private, which was acquired by SVB in 2021. — Allissa Kline
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