New York

The six largest U.S. banks have jointly issued support for a "strong global climate agreement," ahead of a global summit on climate change in Paris in December.

Citigroup has agreed to issue private-label credit cards for Wawa, a Mid-Atlantic convenience store chain.

MUFG Americas Holdings in New York, the holding company for California's Union Bank, has named Kanetsugu Mike chairman of the holding company and bank.

Santander Bank has hired Siobhan Schroth as market director for corporate and commercial banking in New York and New Jersey.

Catskill Hudson Bank in Kingston, N.Y., has hired Orville Aarons as its president. Aarons, a former director at Naugatuck Valley Financial, had been working as a consultant to Catskill Hudson since April.

The $3.4 billion-asset company plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, possible acquisitions and capital investments in Bridgehampton National Bank.

A Federal Reserve decision is expected soon on M&T's long-delayed application to buy Hudson City Bancorp. M&T would still get strategic benefits it sought, but Hudson City has shrunk and become less profitable since it agreed to sell three years ago, and the cost of the deal has risen.

Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has named Christine Cumming, a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York executive, to its board.

Some of the world's biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Barclays, are exploring the use of bitcoin's underlying technology to overhaul financial markets.

Citigroup has agreed to sell its retail banking and credit card businesses in the Czech Republic to Austria's Raiffeisenbank.

MUFG Americas Holdings in New York has hired Donna Dellosso as chief risk officer for Union Bank and for its other operations in the Americas.

Evans Bancorp in Hamburg, N.Y., has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of mortgage redlining.

CIT Group in New York has formed a joint venture with the private equity firm TPG Capital to provide commercial lending.

New York Community Bancorp in Westbury has named Leslie Dunn, a Federal Home Loan Bank director, to its board.

Esquire Bank, a Garden City, N.Y., bank that specializes in financial services for law firms, has raised $19.1 million in a private placement of common stock.

Astoria Financial in Lake Success, N.Y., has named a former Citigroup banker a director of business banking.

Though one of the defendants in the case appeared in a federal court in New York earlier this week, no pleas have been entered in the illegal Bitcoin exchange with ties to a small, low-income CU in New Jersey.

Empire National Bank in Islandia, N.Y., has named former Commerce Bank president and chief executive Robert Falese to its board.

A federal judge has overturned a New York City law that would have required banks to make new disclosures regarding their investments in local communities.

An Astoria Financial investor is demanding that the Lake Success, N.Y., company explore a possible sale or other ways to increase shareholder value.