Commercial banking

Just weeks ago, prospects seemed strong for bank stocks to regain ground after a volatile 2023. But renewed credit concerns stemming from issues at New York Community Bancorp, and the increasing odds that interest rates will remain high for months, have dampened that outlook.

The top five banks and thrifts have more than $1 trillion in combined commercial and industrial loans as of September 30, 2023.

Former Flagstar CEO Alessandro DiNello, who had been New York Community's nonexecutive chairman, was named executive chairman after the Long Island bank's stock price fell by more than 59% in a week. New York Community also issued updates on both its deposit situation and its search for a new chief risk officer.

The British lender has named the company veteran its global head of leveraged finance as it seeks to capture more business from the giants of private equity. 

Bankers during recent earnings reports predicted lower deposit costs as 2024 wears on. But with inflation still elevated and the jobs market strong, the Federal Reserve probably won't begin lowering rates — and thus easing the drag on lenders' profits — until May at the earliest.

The North Carolina bank agreed to offload Sterling Capital Management to Guardian Capital Group in Toronto. It's the latest step in the effort to simplify Truist.

A day after the regional bank's stock tumbled on tough fourth-quarter results and some austerity moves, observers debated whether management just needs time to build enough capital to catch up with growth or if it is still too overexposed in multifamily lending.

The parent company of Flagstar Bank surprised investors by slashing its dividend, charging off two large real-estate loans and preparing for more trouble in the office and multifamily sectors.

Generative artificial intelligence could streamline numerous operations across the financial services landscape, from building investor presentations to processing regulatory and legal documents.

Jim Esposito, one of Goldman Sachs Group's most senior executives, is leaving after almost three decades with the firm.

Cullen/Frost in Texas, BankUnited in Florida and Bank OZK in Arkansas are among the banks that have, at least for now, allayed investors' fears about their exposure to the CRE sector.

Ten months after the Raleigh, North Carolina, company acquired a large chunk of Silicon Valley Bank, it says it is seeing good progress in keeping and winning back the latter's former customers. But the ongoing slowdown in private equity and venture capital activity will challenge the unit's growth.

Workers are eligible for the one-time cash grants if they earned a salary of less than $75,000 last year, and their total cash compensation was less than $85,000. The payments come amid a unionization push at the San Francisco-based megabank.

The Los Angeles company has sold $6 billion of loans and securities since buying PacWest in November. CEO Jared Wolff said it might get smaller still as it strives to boost profitability.

Several of the company's top leaders, including Jennifer Piepszak, have been given new duties in CEO Jamie Dimon's latest management reorganization. Piepszak and JPMorgan President Daniel Pinto are among those viewed as potential successors to long-serving Dimon.

Williams, who died this week at age 90, was CEO of SunTrust — one of the banks that would become Truist — for many years. He also served on the boards of several organizations in Atlanta, including Coca-Cola.

The Oklahoma-based regional bank expects 6%-7% loan growth in the year ahead. Executives are also projecting that net interest income will start to improve after the metric hits a trough early this year.

After California was hit hard by the banking crisis of 2023, tens of thousands of commercial and consumer customers turned to East West, helping the company achieve record full-year revenue, its CEO says.

The next few years will mark the transition of sustainable finance in Latin America through its adolescence and towards maturity.

The Salt Lake City bank says that it doesn't expect major losses, even though its problem loans grew at the end of 2023.