Retail & Commercial

After eight years leading one of the nation's most prominent Black banks, Michael Pugh will become chief executive of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma, in conjunction with the digital-banking platform Narmi, recently launched an account-opening process that occurs completely online. The project, completed in less than three months, could be a model for community banks that want to innovate but fear being a low priority for vendors.

During the recent banking crisis, both businesses and wealth management clients moved their money out of banks. Commercial deposits have since recovered, but those in wealth accounts continue to decline amid fierce competition from both inside and outside the banking system.

The Wilmington, Delaware, bank announced this week that it had purchased Bell Rock Capital. WSFS' management says that legal troubles involving that investment advisory firm's founder won't affect the transaction.

The $1.6 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that its directors "voted to terminate" Kevin Lycklama's employment. Dan Cox, chief credit officer, was named as acting president and CEO.

The deal with private equity firm KKR follows an earlier announced sale of $1.3 billion in medical office loans. The Columbus, Georgia-based company has said it's "proactively optimizing the balance sheet" to position itself for long-term growth.

The nearly $81 million plan to buy Community Financial Group in Spokane, Washington, would mark the 13th acquisition in the past decade for Glacier. The Montana-based bank has more than tripled in size during that time.

The real threat is from undercapitalized banks, and regulators must require large banks to have enough capital to eliminate that threat.

The Alabama bank is rolling out an online platform for corporate clients to manage billing-related communications with their own customers.

Moody's said higher funding costs, a potential decline in bank capital and growing risk in the commercial real-estate industry prompted many of the downgrades.