PayPal adds support for iPhone payments, BNY Mellon's Regelman exits

PayPal adds support for iPhone payments

PayPal has made Tap to Pay on iPhone available for all Venmo business clients and PayPal Zettle users in the U.S. Tap to Pay, or softPOS, enables businesses to receive payments on iPhones without additional hardware, such as a dongle. The technology has become popular among payment companies and banks such as TD Bank and JPMorgan Chase as a way to enable merchants, particularly sole proprietors and other small businesses, to accept payments at a lower cost. Adding Tap to Pay gives PayPal another payment alternative for its small-business clients. in 2018, PayPal acquired Zettle, then known as iZettle, to compete with Block, then known as Square, in Europe. PayPal in 2022 introduced Zettle's point of sale technology to the U.S. "As consumers increasingly turn to non-cash options to pay, small businesses are looking for affordable and flexible ways to offer their customers more payment choice without being tied down to a fixed location," said Nitin Prabhu, vice president of small businesses and financial services at PayPal, in a release. — John Adams

BNY Mellon’s securities services leader Roman Regelman exits

Roman Regelman will leave his role as head of securities services and digital at BNY Mellon next month to pursue other career opportunities, he wrote in a Wednesday LinkedIn post. During his nearly-six-year tenure at the global bank, Regelman oversaw the company's dive into digital asset products, including tokenization and crypto custody, along with efforts to digitize all aspects of operations.

Regelman helped accelerate innovation and performance in asset servicing and led digital asset strategic partnerships and investments to meet "the changing needs of our clients," said CEO Robin Vince in an internal memo seen by American Banker.

In an interview with American Banker last year, Regelman said he wanted custody, clearing and all other functions at the bank to be applicable to digital assets. He added that he saw the potential for tokenization to be a boon to BNY Mellon going forward.

"Tokenization could be the next wave of securitization, but done in a way that is much more accessible, easier and more digital," Regelman said at the time. —Catherine Leffert

FleetCor rebrands as Corpay

FleetCor, the largest business-to-business Mastercard issuer in North America, has announced plans to formally change the company's name to Corpay, an existing brand in the Atlanta-based firm's portfolio of B2B payment products, according to a press release. The corporation, which generated $3.75 billion in revenue last year, began aligning its various corporate payments businesses under the name Corpay in 2021 after acquiring several other firms, including Nvoicepay in 2019 for $225 million and Associated Foreign Exchange for around $500 million. Corpay competes with firms including WEX and U.S. Bank Voyager in the B2B payments channel, including with millions of fuel card programs for fleets and trucking firms. — Kate Fitzgerald

Three ex-UBS public finance bankers head to Cabrera Capital

Cabrera Capital Markets has hired three former UBS Group public finance bankers, the latest firm to scoop up talent from a national bank that's pulled back from the municipal-bond market.

The Chicago-based investment bank and brokerage brought on Shawn Dralle, a Los Angeles-based banker who will serve as head of West Coast public finance, according to a statement. Chris Bergstrom, a New York-based banker, will lead public transportation finance at Cabrera. And Shawnell Holman, a Houston-based banker, joined as an executive director.

"With the addition of three new senior level positions nationwide, the ability to serve our public finance clients will assuredly continue to expand," Mario Carrasco, head of public finance at Cabrera, said in the statement. — Amanda Albright, Bloomberg News

Santander hires Credit Suisse’s Pangrazzi as head of Europe industrial deals

Banco Santander has hired Credit Suisse's Italian Chief of Investment Banking and Capital Markets Michele Pangrazzi as head of industrials Europe, as part of its plan to provide more services for existing corporate clients.

Pangrazzi, 44, started on March 1 at the Spanish lender's corporate and investment banking division, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing hirings before a public announcement.

Based in Milan, the executive will report to Fabrizio Zenoni, country head for Italy, and will collaborate closely with the Italian team to advise large Italian corporates.

A spokesperson for Santander declined to comment. — Sonia Sirletti and Tommaso Ebhardt, Bloomberg News

Coinbase users see zero balances again as bitcoin nears record

On Monday, Coinbase Global, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, said some individual investors saw zero balances in their accounts for the second time in less than a week.

The glitch comes as bitcoin inches toward a record high. The company said it affects "a small subset of users" and their "assets are safe." Last week, users experienced errors in buying and selling.

A Coinbase spokesperson said Monday's problem "is a display issue only." A post on X, formerly known as Twitter, read: "We are aware some users may experience increased latency across Coinbase.com and a few users may see intermittent zero balance. Rest assured, your funds are safe. Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update. Trading is not impacted at this time." — Olga Kharif, Bloomberg News

Deutsche Bank hires Perella’s Tam as co-head of insurance

Deutsche Bank hired Perella Weinberg Partners managing director Andy Tam as co-head of Americas insurance alongside Scott Littlejohn.

Tam, who's based in New York, will join the German bank in June and report to financial-institutions group global co-head Jeff Cady, according to a memo to staff, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report.

A Deutsche Bank representative declined to comment and a representative for Perella didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tam has worked on transactions including Willis Group's merger with Towers Watson, American International Group's purchase of Validus Holdings and Voya Financial on its acquisition of Benefitfocus, according to Perella's website.

He joined the firm in 2014 and previously worked at Credit Suisse. — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News