Retail & Commercial

BMO Financial Group will enable payments, hold deposits and more for Grounded Technologies, a company that sources funding for banks from a diverse mix of asset managers.

The $417 million agreement would give Richmond, Virginia-based Atlantic Union Bankshares "the critical mass" it needs in its home state and neighboring North Carolina, according to CEO John Asbury. He and his counterpart Jeff Haley at American National Bankshares in Danville, Virginia, describe each other as longtime pals.

During the company's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Jim Ryan acknowledged employees' "resiliency and their commitment to supporting one another" after a gunman opened fire on a Louisville, Kentucky, branch in April.

Storms earlier this month crippled local communities in the Green Mountain state. Banks, which have had to close branches or open alternative ones, are offering flexible loan repayment options and working with municipalities to finance the rebuilding of infrastructure.

Credit metrics are deteriorating as more cardholders fall behind on their payments. But bank CEOs detect few causes for alarm, saying they plan to stay in growth mode since most consumers have stayed current.

The deal is expected to close late in 2023 or early next year and be immediately accretive to the combined company's earnings.

Valarie Ivester, assistant vice president of indirect strategy and development for Greater Texas Credit Union, has helped update strategy from the start of the pandemic through the recent chip shortage.

Nearly three out of five respondents to a Bloomberg survey said they would most like to work for the CEO of JPMorgan Chase. That was enough to make Dimon the most popular choice out of a list of the leaders of six big banks.

American Banker's annual list reviews the financial results for the best-performing large institutions.

The era of banks being customers' sole source of financial services is long gone, and regional banks need to accelerate their adjustment to that fact.