Wealth management

Amerant Bank has invested $2.5 million in Marstone to provide a digital alternative to personal wealth advisors for new and existing clients. The technology "gets planning capabilities into the hands of any customer that wants them," says Jerry Plush, the Florida bank's new CEO.

How the pandemic is accelerating trends in financial advice and changing the way Americans manage their money.

Julie Caperton, a longtime executive at the $1.9 trillion-asset bank, succeeds Julia Wellborn, who left the company in April.

The four largest U.S. banks face investor pressure to deliver the returns of smaller rivals, but they complain that the federal deposit cap and capital rules make that difficult. So they're pouring money into wealth management, payments and digital banking to seize more market share in existing businesses and fend off nonbank challengers.

The Mastercard Foundation will provide $1.3 billion to support the coronavirus vaccination program in Africa, the continent with the lowest inoculation rate.

Rising inflation could lead to a rate hike, bolstering lenders' profits in 2022. Improved credit quality and an economic rebound are also fueling investment in the sector.

The London-based banking giant announced a plan this week to exit the mass-market U.S. retail business and focus on managing the wealth of affluent globe-trotters. But other international banks will provide stiff competition.

The London-based banking giant is selling 90 of its branches and shuttering about three dozen more. The 20 or so branches it is retaining will be transformed into international wealth centers.

Cypress Trust in Palm Beach is poised to pull off a rarity: the conversion of a wealth management firm into a community bank. It’s simply another way to take advantage of the ongoing melding of the two financial services sectors, CEO Dana Kilborne says.

Princeton Portfolio Strategies Group would become the sixth asset management business that the New Jersey banking company has bought since 2014.