U.S. Bancorp prepares for COO's retirement

January 30, 2026 4:00 PM

In this week's banking news roundup: U.S Bancorp shuffles management as Souheil Badran announces retirement; Stock Yards Bancorp plans to buy Field & Main Bancorp; Citi's wealth business creates a new role for Mercer's Olaolu Aganga; and more.

U.S. Bancorp prepares for COO Badran's retirement

U.S. Bancorp's executive management team will change this year following the upcoming retirement of the company's chief operations officer, Souheil Badran.

Badran, 60, will depart this spring, the Minneapolis-based company said in a press release. He joined U.S. Bancorp, the holding company for U.S. Bank, in late 2022 from Northwestern Mutual, where he had been the firm's chief operating officer.

"Souheil has led our operations function with distinction and a keen eye toward elevating our client experience with our contact centers and driving productivity and efficiency in service of our shareholders," CEO Gunjan Kedia said in the release.

Badran is one of 16 members of U.S. Bancorp's top leadership committee. The bank said it has "a robust succession planning program in place and will activate and implement" that program as it prepares for Badran's successor. —Allissa Kline

Kentucky banks announce merger agreement

Stock Yards Bancorp announced Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Field & Main Bancorp in an all-stock transaction valued at $105.7 million.

The acquisition will expand Louisville, Kentucky-based Stock Yards presence in the western part of the state, and create a combined entity with $10.4 billion of total assets, $7.0 billion in gross loans, $8.6 billion of deposits and $8.4 billion in trust assets under management.

Stock Yards expects the deal to close in the second quarter, and will then operate through 81 branches across Kentucky, along with the Indianapolis and Cincinnati metropolitan markets.

The Kentucky bank has been preparing to cross the $10 billion asset threshold for "a number of years," management said in a presentation to investors. The benchmark means the bank will be held to higher regulatory scrutiny, and will be subject to an interchange fee cap. The company said "incremental earnings" from the acquisition will help offset the financial impacts of passing $10 billion of assets. —Catherine Leffert

Citi

Citi hires ex-Mercer executive to fill newly created role

Citi's wealth business has created a new role that focuses on investment portfolio solutions and hired Olaolu Aganga, formerly of Mercer, to fill the job.

Aganga, who started her career at Citi in 2003 in the markets business, rejoined the bank earlier this month as the head of portfolio construction, according to a memo seen by American Banker and confirmed by a Citi spokesperson. Aganga, who is based in New York, will report to Kate Moore, chief investment officer of Citi Wealth.

Aganga was most recently the U.S. chief investment officer at Mercer, where she focused on areas such as investment performance, investment governance, risk management and cost and profitability management, according to her LinkedIn profile.

"Olaolu has a wealth of experience across asset classes and portfolio construction," Moore wrote in the memo. "She will play a critical role in translating our macro, factor and thematic views into actionable, scalable client portfolios while balancing performance and risk management." —Allissa Kline

American Bankers Association

ABA appoints Andrew Ting deputy general counsel

Andrew Ting was appointed deputy general counsel and executive vice president of the American Bankers Association, the organization announced in a Jan. 27 press release. He will oversee a team of senior attorneys in the ABA's office of general counsel to provide guidance on a range of legal matters, including fintech, artificial intelligence, payment systems and bank law.

"Andrew brings tremendous legal experience and business acumen to our general counsel's office," said ABA General Counsel Tom Pinder in the release.

Prior to joining ABA, Ting served as chief legal officer and corporate secretary at ed tech firm Panorama Education and as general counsel and chief compliance officer at Koalafi, a consumer lending company. He's provided corporate and financial regulatory counsel at SpringHarbor Financial and Promontory MortgagePath, Promontory Financial Group, and Latham & Watkins. He currently holds positions as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and George Washington University Law School. —Traci Parks

Ally

Ally hires former regulator Hood as policy advisor

Rodney Hood was appointed senior policy advisor to Ally Financial CEO Michael Rhodes, the digital bank and auto lender announced on Jan. 27. Hood will leverage his nearly 30-year career in banking, regulation, risk management and financial inclusion to counsel Ally on political affairs to further its mission of "financial well-being for all," Rhodes said in a release.

Notably, Hood has served as acting comptroller of the currency and as chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, where he was a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He's served on the board of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and has held senior leadership roles at JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo, NationsBank (now Bank of America), GE Capital and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Currently, Hood is an independent director on the boards of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta and Zest AI and advises on the International Advisory Board for Strategic Resource Management. —Traci Parks

Cullen/Frost announces new board members, retirement

Marsha M. Shields and Jeff Rummel, two longtime Texans, were elected to Cullen/Frost Bankers' board of directors, the San Antonio-based firm announced on Jan. 30. "We're glad to be able to add Marsha and Jeff to the board, and we look forward to the addition of their knowledge and experience," Cullen/Frost Chairman and CEO Phil Green said in a press release, adding that their policy and business backgrounds will be of value as the company expands.

Shields is the CEO and managing partner of McCombs Enterprises and Rummel was the managing partner of Ernst & Young's San Antonio office from 2020 to 2025.

The Cullen/Frost board also announced that Chris Avery, who has been a director since 2015, will retire from service when his term expires in April of this year.

Cullen/Frost Bankers is the holding company for banking, investments and insurance subsidiary Frost, one of the 50 largest U.S. banks by asset size. —Traci Parks

Mizuho adds HSBC’s Connor, JPMorgan’s de Maria to hiring wave

Mizuho Financial Group has brought in Jon Connor and Thibaud de Maria as part of a hiring wave of senior investment bankers, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because it wasn't public yet. Connor has held positions at HSBC including global head of real assets and services and co-head of Middle East investment banking, according to his LinkedIn profile. De Maria is an industrials services banker joining from JPMorganChase in London.

Mizuho has also hired Armand de Vienne, former head of insurance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at HSBC in Paris, and Richard Robinson, who is set to join from Deutsche Bank in New York as vice chair in the industrials group, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Representatives for Mizuho, HSBC and Deutsche Bank declined to comment. A spokesperson for JPMorgan didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. —Veena Ali-Khan, Bloomberg News