Commercial banking

A group of HSBC Holdings Plc investors wants the bank to set a funding target for renewable energy amid concerns its current green pledges are too vague.

Banks maintain lists of consulting firms that they trust to help troubled commercial borrowers to fix their businesses. These specialists say they're getting more calls, especially in areas such as multifamily and CRE, from business owners who need help.

Toronto-Dominion failed to submit suspicious-transaction reports in cases where it was reasonable to suspect the transfers were tied to money laundering or terrorist financing, along with other violations, according to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

The embattled Long Island bank unveiled a turnaround plan that involves selling noncore assets and diversifying its commercial loan book. But first, it will need to sort through credit-related challenges in its large commercial real estate portfolio.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has taken an initial provision of $450 million in connection with U.S. investigations into its anti-money-laundering practices and said it expects additional penalties to come.

Noel Quinn is leaving after four years in the role. It's the third time in six years that HSBC has had to look for a new chief executive.

The San Antonio-based bank said that loan growth, fueled in part by its expansion in key Texas markets, may compensate for pressure on deposits. It slashed the number of rate cuts it expects this year from five to two.

The New York-based bank says it will push its concentration of commercial real estate loans below 400% of risk-based capital over the next two years and focus more on C&I.

At the banks' annual meetings, shareholders at both companies struck down proposals that would have split the board chair and CEO roles. Two other proposals also failed to win shareholder support, one concerning energy financing and another on pay gap analysis.

The Connecticut bank —a regional traditionally regarded as a cautious lender — said nonperforming loans and leases rose 53% year-over-year. The uptick was in mostly the commercial-and-industrial loan space, although there was one nonperforming commercial real estate loan, executives said.

The two regional banks are anticipating that borrower demand will increase in the back half of the year. High interest rates and economic uncertainty have been muting the appetite for borrowing.

After several quarters of slumping investment banking and trading fees, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company reported a big uptick from that division, which helped compensate for a large decline in net interest income.

The Cleveland-based bank is projecting steady growth in net interest income even as credit losses remain manageable. But Chairman and CEO Chris Gorman also said that he thinks a recession is likely.

The first-quarter increase involved commercial real estate loans, including some problematic multifamily loans and an office credit, but none of the criticized loans were to consumers, officials at the Dallas company say. Further CRE deterioration is anticipated.

Charge-offs and nonperforming loans rose at the Georgia bank in the first quarter. But it blamed the problem on one large client and said the matter has been resolved.

After the Minneapolis-based company reported stubbornly high commercial deposit costs, it reduced its full-year forecast for net interest income by $200 million-$500 million.

Societe Generale has been seeking more than $1.1 billion for the business, according to the people, sources told Bloomberg News. 

Net charge-offs at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased by more than 80% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. BofA executives say that the rising losses were in line with the bank's risk appetite.

Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick downplayed the importance of government investigations into potential money laundering issues involving wealth management clients. "We've been focused on our client on-boarding and monitoring processes for a good while," he said.

New York Community Bancorp CEO Joseph Otting has added three former colleagues to the embattled company's leadership team. The hires come six weeks after the Long Island bank got a $1 billion capital infusion, which led to Otting's appointment as CEO.