Northwest's CFO search, Plains State's new small-business portfolio

September 22, 2023 6:03 PM

Northwest Bank starts search for new CFO; Plains State Bank acquires wealth management, tax businesses; Bank of America names new heads for North America industrials banking; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Northwest Bank begins search for new CFO

Northwest Bancshares has initiated a search for a new chief financial officer to succeed longtime CFO William Harvey Jr., who plans to retire from the company at the end of 2024. The search, which will include internal and external candidates, is expected to take four to six months to complete, the Columbus, Ohio-based company said in a press release. Harvey, a 27-year veteran at Northwest, also serves as the firm's chief operating officer and sits on the board of directors. He will retire on Dec. 31, 2024, from those roles as well, and then serve as a consultant to the company through the end of December 2025, Northwest said. Northwest Bancshares, with $14.3 billion of assets, is the parent company of Northwest Bank, which operates 134 retail branches in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Indiana. — Allissa Kline

Plains State Bank in Texas acquires wealth management, tax businesses

Plains State Bank in Houston said Wednesday it acquired Core+ Financial Strategies and Core+ Tax Strategies, adding a portfolio of services for small businesses and individual customers. "The principals at Core+ have been helping clients with investment planning for many years," said Lori Hilman, president and chief operating officer for Plains State Bank. "It just made sense that this was the next step: Rather than having this longtime referring relationship, let's have Core+ become a part of our family." The acquisition brings wealth management and tax experience — along with more than $300 million of client assets — from Core+ Financial Strategies to go along with PSB's existing core lending and treasury management services. Core+ Financial Strategies and Core+ Tax Strategies, which have locations in Houston and Cypress, Texas, will continue to operate as usual. — Jim Dobbs

Bank of America names new co-heads for North America industrials banking

Bank of America named Loli Wu and Bill Young to lead the North America industrials investment banking unit. The new co-heads will be responsible for expanding the business in the U.S. and Canada, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. Wu will retain his title as head of transportation and infrastructure, and Young will remain co-head of diversified and advanced industrials investment banking. A representative for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America confirmed the contents of the memo.

Wu, who joined Bank of America in 2009, worked on deals including the sales of Kansas City Southern Railway to Canadian Pacific and Genesee & Wyoming to Brookfield Asset Management and GIC Pte, as well as the acquisition of Virgin America by Alaska Air Group.

Young joined the lender in 2021 from Credit Suisse. He has advised on deals including Barnes Group's acquisition of MB Aerospace and Carlyle Group's sale of Chromalloy Gas Turbine LLC to Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC. — Katherine Doherty, Bloomberg News

Wells Fargo names Citi veteran Clayton Hale as co-head of ECM

Wells Fargo has hired Clayton Hale as co-head of equity capital markets from Citigroup.

Hale will join Wells Fargo after a period of leave and will be based in New York reporting to Tim O'Hara, head of banking. He'll work alongside fellow co-head of ECM Jill Ford, who joined the firm this month from Credit Suisse.

A representative for Wells Fargo confirmed the hire but declined to comment further. A representative for Citigroup declined to comment.

Hale has spent 28 years at Citigroup and was most recently global head of consumer and retail capital markets and advisory, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was Citigroup's co-head of equity capital markets in the Americas, the profile shows.

The move comes amid a rebound in initial public offerings, led by big listings this month from Arm Holdings, Instacart and Klaviyo Inc. — Ryan Gould, Bloomberg News

Goldman Sachs ANZ names ex-Australia treasurer Frydenberg chairman

Goldman Sachs Group named former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg chairman of its Australia and New Zealand business.

"In this role, Josh will focus on further deepening and strengthening client coverage across the A/NZ region," banking chiefs Simon Rothery and Kevin Sneader announced in a memo to staff obtained by Bloomberg News. Frydenberg replaces veteran Australia Goldman investment banker Christian Johnson, who retired in March. The news will likely nix public expectations that Frydenberg, 52, may still harbor further political ambitions, after commonly being tipped for leadership of the Liberal National Party before its coalition lost reelection in 2022. — Harry Brumpton, Bloomberg News

Santander hires Credit Suisse veteran healthcare banker Schwartz

Banco Santander has hired Credit Suisse veteran Steve Schwartz as its U.S. head of health care services. Schwartz, who joined Credit Suisse in 1999 according to Finra records, will report to David Hermer, Santander's head of corporate and investment banking. He'll be reunited with many former Credit Suisse colleagues at the Spanish lender, including mergers and acquisitions chief Steve Geller as well as Hermer.

A Santander spokesman confirmed Schwartz's hiring. A representative for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Santander has been aggressively hiring to bolster its U.S. investment bank. Amid rival UBS's merger with Credit Suisse, Santander has found a fertile hunting ground from which to poach talent. — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

HSBC hires ex-Credit Suisse bankers to build equities business

HSBC's equities business added nine traders and sales staff in London, New York, Hong Kong and Mumbai in recent weeks, eight of whom previously worked at Credit Suisse, according to a statement.

Simon Farquharson, Andrew Rush, Steve Jobber and Simon Ansell have joined HSBC's high touch execution business in London. Additionally, the bank has hired Alex Martin for its London-based portfolio trading execution team.

In New York, Joseph Barreto and Matt Flanagan have been added to the bank's equities team, while in Mumbai, Parin Sanghavi joined HSBC's Indian high touch execution business. Tiffany Chiu will join as a trading director in HSBC's Hong Kong office. — Harry Wilson and Donal Griffin, Bloomberg News