Wells Fargo's Hudson Yards expansion, Mastercard's new shopping tool

December 1, 2023 2:54 PM

Wells Fargo is expanding into New York City's Hudson Yards, Mastercard launches a new generative AI-powered shopping tool, Banc of California closes PacWest acquisition and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

Wells Fargo to bring NYC employees under one roof at Hudson Yards

Wells Fargo has bought more office space at New York City's Hudson Yards, an expansion that the megabank says will bring all of its Manhattan employees under one roof. "This investment further solidifies our long-standing commitment to NYC and will help us create an enhanced, more collaborative environment for our NYC-based employees," Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said in a news release. The company has hired the developers of the Hudson Yards sector to create a modern workspace, a process that is expected to take three years. Some 2,300 employees who are currently at the bank's 42nd Street office will move to the new space starting in late 2026. —Polo Rocha

Lionel Ng/Bloomberg

Mastercard launches generative AI-powered shopping tool

Purchase, New York-based Mastercard's Dynamic Yield unit has launched Shopping Muse, an advanced generative artificial intelligence-powered tool that helps consumers find products on retailers' websites, according to a press release. Shopping Muse operates like a personal assistant on participating retailers' websites to translate consumers' everyday language into customized product recommendations with style and usage tips, using AI capabilities from Dynamic Yield's personalization engine. Mastercard purchased New York City-based Dynamic Yield last year for an undisclosed sum from McDonald's, which paid about $300 million for the firm in 2019. —Kate Fitzgerald

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

For U.S. banks, car and truck loans are an emerging credit challenge

Delinquent auto loans are on the rise. The delinquency ratio for car and truck loans reached 2.95% in the third quarter, marking an increase of 20 basis points from the prior quarter and a jump of 56 basis points from a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The third-quarter level also marked the highest in 11 years after seven straight quarterly increases. The latest increase came even as banks scaled back their collective exposure to the sector. Auto loans totaled $538.9 billion for the third quarter, down from $541.5 billion for the previous quarter, the S&P Global data shows. — Jim Dobbs

Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

Banc of California closes PacWest acquisition, raises $400 million

Banc of California closed its $1 billion acquisition of PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles on Thursday. The buyer previously estimated that the combined bank would finish the year with $36 billion of assets, $25 billion of loans and $30 billion of deposits. It has more than 70 branches in California, along with offices in North Carolina and Colorado. However, Banc of California said it and Pacific Western Bank had sold about $1.9 billion of assets as part of a balance sheet repositioning strategy tied to the merger. The strategy also includes additional asset sales expected through the first quarter. Banc of California also completed a $400 million equity raise from affiliates of funds managed by Warburg Pincus and certain investment vehicles sponsored, managed or advised by Centerbridge Partners and its affiliates. — Jim Dobbs

Bing Guan/Bloomberg

Synchrony to issue co-branded J.Crew Mastercard

J.Crew Group has signed an agreement with Synchrony Financial to launch a private-label credit card along with a co-branded Mastercard credit card next year, according to a press release. Bread Financial's Comenity Bank has been J.Crew's private-label card issuer. As part of the deal, Synchrony will acquire J.Crew's credit card portfolio and extend digital banking capabilities to customers of J.Crew and J.Crew Factory, who may earn rewards by making purchases in J.Crew stores and elsewhere with the Mastercard version of the card. —Kate Fitzgerald

Stefan Wermuth/Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Blo

UBS’s Kelleher likes Morgan Stanley’s CEO race playbook

UBS Group Chairman Colm Kelleher said he is looking at setting up a shortlist of potential candidates to succeed current Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti in the coming years.

"I would love to get to the stage in the future where UBS can run the same playbook as Morgan Stanley and have a foreseeable and credible succession with a range of candidates," Kelleher said at the FT Global Banking Summit in London on Tuesday.

UBS brought back Ermotti, 63, as CEO in April to oversee the government-brokered rescue of its smaller rival Credit Suisse. The bank said at the time that he was better suited to oversee the integration than his predecessor, Ralph Hamers.

Asked if he would prefer an internal candidate, Kelleher said he would ideally promote people from within, "because that is a validation of a culture." — Myriam Balezou, Bloomberg News

roundup slide re: rehiring of Matthew Lytle

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

JPMorgan rehires SVB, Goldman alum Lytle for technology deals

JPMorgan Chase has rehired Matthew Lytle as a managing director within its North America technology investment banking team.

"Matt will focus his efforts in enterprise and cloud companies within our innovation economy initiative," Chris Grose and Pankaj Goel, JPMorgan's co-heads of technology investment banking in North America, wrote in a memo to staff reviewed by Bloomberg News.

San Francisco-based Lytle was most recently a senior managing director at Leerink Partners, formerly SVB Securities. Several SVB Securities tech bankers left to join Moelis earlier this year after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank.

Lytle previously held roles including global co-head of internet investment banking at Goldman Sachs and, before that, was a banker within JPMorgan's internet and digital media team. — Gillian Tan, Bloomberg News

Liam Kennedy/Bloomberg

Pinnacle Financial chief credit officer steps down due to health issues

Timothy Huestis, chief credit officer at Pinnacle Financial Partners and Pinnacle Bank in Nashville, "suffered a cardiac event and, as a result, will no longer be able" to serve in his position, the $47.5 billion-asset company said in a regulatory filing Thursday. Pinnacle said J. Harvey White would replace Huestis as the company's interim chief credit officer until a permanent candidate is named. White most recently served as the company's Knoxville, Tennessee, regional banking executive in the credit administration group. Previously, White had been the company's chief credit officer from 2009 to 2019. —Jim Dobbs

Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Mizuho closes acquisition of M&A and restructuring advisory firm Greenhill

Effective Friday, Mizuho completed its acquisition of Greenhill, welcoming more than 370 Greenhill employees across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

The transaction will combine Mizuho's leading investment banking and capital markets businesses with Greenhill's premier M&A and restructuring solutions.

Greenhill will operate as the M&A and restructuring business of Mizuho. The Greenhill brand and existing leadership remain in place and are part of Mizuho Americas' banking division, led by Michal Katz, head of banking, Mizuho Americas. Kevin Costantino and David Wyles are co-heads of the Greenhill Advisory business, reporting to Michal Katz. Scott Bok is chairman of Greenhill Advisory, reporting to Jerry Rizzieri, president and CEO of Mizuho Securities USA and head of the Americas' Corporate and Investment Bank. — Editorial Staff