Needham and BankProv receive approvals and merge date

October 24, 2025 3:14 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: Needham and Provident banks receive all regulatory approvals to merge; JPMorganChase taps tech dealmaker Kevin Brunner from Bank of America; RBC Capital Markets expands its presence in the equity derivatives market with two senior hires from UBS; and more.

2 Mass. banks receive all approvals and merge date

The holding companies of Needham and Provident banks have received all regulatory approvals to merge, the companies announced in an Oct. 20 press release. Originally announced on June 5, the proposed merger is expected to be completed on or about Nov. 14.

Obtaining the required approvals in the time frame the firms were able to secure them "speaks to the commitment and efforts of these two organizations coming together as one," Joseph Campanelli, Needham Bank's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the release.

Needham's commitment to innovation and community "mirrors our own," said Joseph Reilly, president and chief executive officer at Provident. "I am proud of what BankProv has built, and I'm equally excited to see how Needham Bank will take that foundation even further."

Provident stockholders approved the merger on Sept. 15. —Editorial Staff

JPMorgan hires BofA’s Kevin Brunner as global chair of M&A

JPMorganChase has hired veteran technology dealmaker Kevin Brunner from Bank of America as a global chair of investment banking and mergers and acquisitions.

Brunner will split his time between New York and San Francisco and will report to Filippo Gori and John Simmons, JPMorgan's co-heads of global banking, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.

At Bank of America, Brunner was most recently chairman of global M&A and global head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking. He was at the lender for 25 years, having started his career at Merrill Lynch, the memo shows.

A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo. A representative for Bank of America declined to comment.

Brunner played a key role in numerous deals at BofA, advising on Alphabet's $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, Broadcom's $69 billion purchase of VMware and Analog Devices' $68 billion combination with Maxim Integrated Products.

JPMorgan has been fortifying its tech banking business, hiring dealmakers including Mark Garcia, Eric Quanbeck, Brett Miller and Peter Duda, while elevating others including Howard Chen, Charlie Dupree and Fred Turpin as global chairs. —Ryan Gould and Liana Baker, Bloomberg News

UBS’ Heravi and Hedberg to join RBC in equity derivatives push

RBC Capital Markets is expanding its presence in the equity derivatives market with two senior hires from UBS, as the bank pushes into a part of Wall Street long dominated by proprietary trading firms.

The Canadian bank is hiring Amir Heravi, who led U.S. equity flow derivatives trading at UBS, and Jason Hedberg, who has left his role as head of equity derivatives sales at the Swiss bank, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.

A spokesperson for RBC shared the memo outlining the hires with Bloomberg. A UBS spokesperson declined to comment.

Hedberg begins his new role as global head of equity derivative sales at RBC at the end of October. Hedberg's wife, Mikie Sherrill, is currently running to be the next governor of New Jersey.

Heravi will become global co-head of equity derivatives flow trading in January after a period of garden leave, reporting to James Masserio, RBC's head of global equities. Heravi will work alongside current co-head David Lalonde. —Bernard Goyder, Bloomberg News

Citi bull Mayo says CEO’s double bonus is too large and too soon

Longtime Citi bull Mike Mayo said the bank's decision to give CEO Jane Fraser a multimillion-dollar retention bonus and the additional title of chair reflected poor governance and prematurely rewards the chief executive.

"Citi is among the worst offenders of pay for lack of performance in history," the Wells Fargo analyst wrote in an Oct. 22 note, adding that the package "continues a long tradition of paying in excess — or in this case at least before — proper performance."

Citi on Wednesday said it was giving Fraser — who is succeeding John Dugan as chair — a one-time share package consisting of restricted stock with a grant-date value of $25 million, along with 1.055 million stock options potentially worth tens of millions of dollars more.

The bank is doubly rewarding Fraser for price performance, since she "already benefits from the 2025 share appreciation," according to Mayo, who added that Citi remains his top pick. —Georgie McKay, Bloomberg News

Ex-Citi banker jailed longest in Singapore laundering case

A former wealth banker at Citi got the longest sentence in Singapore's biggest money laundering case for his role in aiding the movement of illicit funds and obstructing justice.

Wang Qiming, a former relationship manager at Citi Singapore, was sentenced to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to four out of 10 charges on Thursday. That's a harsher jail term than the punishments meted out to the 10 convicted money launderers in the S$3 billion ($2.3 billion) scandal.

Wang is the first banker to be sentenced in the case, which has raised questions about the risks of Singapore's ambition to attract some of the world's richest and the city's safeguards against dirty money flows. Former Julius Baer Group banker Liu Kai, 36, faces one charge and is scheduled to plead guilty on Friday. The two men are the only financial professionals charged in connection with the laundering case. —Low De Wei and Rthvika Suvarna, Bloomberg News