PNC promotes Michael Thomas; Huntington hires JPMorgan's Sarah Pohmer

March 15, 2024 2:30 PM

PNC announces a new head of corporate and institutional banking; Huntington hires JPMorgan exec to lead HR; former HSBC banker returns as the firm's new U.S. CEO; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

PNC names head of corporate and institutional banking

PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh said Michael Thomas had been named head of corporate and institutional banking. Thomas reports to PNC President Michael Lyons. Thomas succeeds Lyons in the role. Lyons was promoted to president in February.

During his 27-year career at PNC, Thomas has held progressive leadership roles in debt capital markets and real estate banking. Since 2020, he has served as head of PNC's real estate business. In 2023, Thomas also assumed responsibility for the bank's corporate strategy group, supporting the research, planning and execution of strategic initiatives across PNC's lines of business.

Prior to joining PNC, Thomas worked at JPMorgan Chase. He is a graduate of Yale University. — Jim Dobbs

Huntington hires JPMorgan exec to lead HR department

Huntington Bancshares is preparing for a change in leadership overseeing its human resources department. Raj Syal, chief human resources officer, plans to retire on Oct. 1, the Columbus, Ohio-based company announced this week in a press release. Sarah Pohmer, who was most recently the head of human resources for JPMorgan Chase's consumer bank, will succeed him when she joins the company on May 6, the release said. Syal arrived at Huntington in 2015 after working at TD Bank, Bank of America and Markit, a financial information services business that's now part of S&P Global, the release said. Pohmer, who worked at JPMorgan for 24 years, will join Huntington's executive leadership team. — Allissa Kline

HSBC taps new U.S. CFO

HSBC has appointed Andrew Fullam as chief financial officer for the U.S. and Americas in an effort to spur domestic growth following some recent moves to scale back banking business in North America.

Fullam's new role marks his return to the bank, where he worked for nearly two decades, including as interim CFO for the Americas in 2019. Last year, he left HSBC for a stint leading enterprise financial planning at Wells Fargo. Fullam will be based in New York, and will report to CEO of U.S. and Americas Michael Roberts and CFO for Western Markets Kavita Mahtani, one of American Banker's Most Powerful Women in Banking.

"As we navigate the dynamic landscape of the financial industry, Andrew's wealth of experience and deep expertise in corporate finance will be instrumental in driving sustainable growth across our businesses in the U.S. and Americas," said Roberts in a prepared statement.

In recent years, HSBC has exited its retail banking business in the U.S. and inked a deal to sell its Canadian operations. As head of financial operations in the region, Fullam will oversee accounting, regulatory reporting, stress testing and capital management. —Catherine Leffert

JPMorgan’s India ECM head Abhinav Bharti said to leave bank

JPMorgan Chase's India head of equity capital markets Abhinav Bharti is leaving the U.S. bank, according to people familiar with the matter. He will be replaced by Arvind Vashistha, former managing director of Citigroup in India, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Bharti is leaving after working for more than 13 years aat JPMorgan, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was elevated to managing director in 2022. He joined the firm as an associate from Kotak Mahindra Bank's investment banking arm in 2010.

A representative for JPMorgan declined to comment, while Citigroup didn't immediately respond to requests seeking comment. — Saikat Das, Baiju Kalesh and Preeti Singh, Bloomberg News

Bank of America reworks capital markets division with new advisory leaders

Bank of America announced several leadership changes in its capital markets business and set up a new advisory group to better align its offerings amid volatile market conditions.

The firm named senior bankers Gregg Nabhan, chair of equity capital markets, and Mike Browne, co-head of North America leveraged finance, to lead the capital markets advisory unit, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg. They will report to Faiz Ahmad and Sarang Gadkari, co-heads of global capital markets, while retaining their current roles and responsibilities.

"Our clients continue to face challenging cross-capital structure decisions in a volatile macroeconomic and geopolitical environment," Ahmad and Gadkari said in the memo. "We are centralizing leadership for our cross-product and capital structure capabilities to further enhance our ability to add value to them." —Katherine Doherty, Bloomberg News

BBVA opens new office in Miami for wealthy Latin American clients

Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has opened a new office in Miami to serve wealthy Latin American clients.

Spain's second-largest bank has established BBVA Global Wealth Advisors, it said in a statement Thursday. BBVA already offers international wealth management services in Switzerland and Spain.

The new branch is open to non-U.S. resident clients looking to park at least $500,000 with the lender. The offering will include nondiscretionary portfolio management services as well as advisory and wrap fee accounts.

BBVA sold its U.S. retail business in 2021 to PNC Financial Services Group, but retained its investment banking presence in the country. — Macarena Muñoz, Bloomberg News