Succession planning

Lincoln Savings Bank has tapped Sean Willett, chief administrative officer at Financial Institutions, as its next leader after a six-month search.

Morais, who leads the auto lender's consumer and commercial banking divisions, is preparing to leave as Ally Financial conducts a search for its next chief executive officer. She had been seen as a potential candidate to replace outgoing CEO Jeffrey Brown.

The number of women CEOs at top-50 banks will soon fall to one with the departure of Kelly Coffey from the top job at City National Bank. The recent trend line shines a light on the industry's shallow bench of women in C-suite roles.

The new chief financial officer, Chris Doll, is City National's third recent hire from Fifth Third. At yearend, he will succeed John Bai, who spent close to a decade in roles with Royal Bank of Canada and City National.

Pick, 54, a co-president and three-decade veteran of the firm, will be elevated to the top role in January and join the board, the bank said. Gorman, 65, will stay on as executive chairman.

Mark Smith, most recently head of the firm's treasury and trade solutions division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will take on the treasurer role on an interim basis. 

Jeffrey Brown, who's been Ally Financial's top executive for nearly nine years, plans to leave the company by early next year. His exit comes as deteriorating credit quality and rising interest rates are biting into Ally's profits.

Cboe Global Markets says Edward Tilly has resigned following an investigation that determined he didn't disclose personal relationships with colleagues. The derivatives and securities exchange has appointed Fredric Tomczyk, a current member of Cboe's board of directors, to replace Tilly. 

Many institutions are building internal development programs to lower the barriers of entry to more senior roles as aging leaders retire.

The credit card company is no stranger to regulatory penalties, but its CEO's sudden departure this week raises the specter of a more painful punishment tied to possible compliance shortcomings. Analysts are hoping to get clarity Thursday on how bad things could get.