Wells Fargo invests in Black businesses, American Express promotes small businesses

Wells Fargo is making a $1.5 million philanthropic investment in the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, an Atlanta-based organization focused on building Black businesses.

As part of the investment, the San Francisco-based bank will help to fund micro grants of between $2,500 and $10,000 to 50 small businesses. Funds will also be used to support an initiative that enables 100 businesses each year to engage with large corporations and government agencies.

Wells has previously provided support to the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, known as RICE, which opened in 2019. 

"RICE's mission to inspire and empower Black entrepreneurs is more critical than ever, as these small businesses are among the fastest-growing in Atlanta and the economy overall," Darlene Goins, the bank's head of philanthropy and community impact, said in a press release. — Kevin Wack

Shareholders in both Banc of California and PacWest Bancorp have approved their pending merger.

In separate votes held Wednesday, the deal received more than 98% approval from each company's shareholders, the two Southern California banks said in a press release. In July, Banc of California reached a deal to acquire PacWest in an all-stock transaction valued at $1 billion.

"We appreciate this vote of confidence in our transformational merger, which will create an exceptional franchise with the strength and ability to grow profitably and deliver results to our stockholders," Banc of California President and CEO Jared Wolff said in the release.

Los Angeles-based PacWest, which saw its stock price plunge amid the banking crisis earlier this year, endured a mini-deposit run before reaching the deal to sell. When the sale closes, funds managed by two private-equity firms, Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge Partners, have agreed to invest a total of $400 million in newly issued securities.

The proceeds of those sales are expected to be used to reposition the combined bank's balance sheet. The combined company will have roughly $36 billion of assets.

Santa Ana-based Banc of California said last month that it had received all of the regulatory approvals it needed to close the deal. On Wednesday, the two banks said that they now expect the deal to close on or around Nov. 30, which is a month earlier than their earlier projection. — Kevin Wack

Morgan Stanley has named Jed Finn head of the company's $4.8 trillion wealth management business, giving him oversight of the biggest revenue generator at the firm. 

The move is part of co-President Andy Saperstein's revamp of the investment bank's money-management divisions. Finn, 45, has been a close lieutenant of Saperstein's since joining the firm in 2011. He was closely involved in helping integrate the Smith Barney brokerage business that Morgan Stanley purchased from Citigroup.

More recently, Finn and Saperstein sealed a deal to buy Solium Capital, a software venture that manages employee stock options. The acquisition, initially viewed with skepticism, is now seen inside the bank as a success, helping keep entrepreneurs in private companies and executives in public companies within Morgan Stanley's wealth management sphere. — Sridhar Natarajan, Bloomberg News