Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exited a bet on Synchrony Financial during the first quarter as the company continued to pare back its investments in financial firms.
Berkshire reported Monday that it no longer held any shares in Synchrony, a bet that had totaled nearly $699 million at year-end, and trimmed its Wells Fargo holding to just over 675,000 shares as of March 31. It added shares in the insurance broker Aon, which is seeking to close a deal with rival Willis Towers Watson.
Warren Buffett.
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Buffett’s company has spent the last year revamping its holdings in financial firms, sticking by a massive stake in Bank of America valued at $39.1 billion, while exiting investments in JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group. A more than three-decade investment in Wells Fargo, which once ranked as the company’s largest common stock bet, has been slowly disappearing in recent years and totaled just $26.4 million at the end of the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Berkshire has dug even deeper into the insurance brokerage industry. The bet on Aon, disclosed in a quarterly filing, comes just months after Berkshire revealed a stake in its rival Marsh McLennan. Aon and Willis Towers Watson have agreed to sell some assets to help ease regulatory concerns around their proposed combination. The Aon holding was valued at about $943 million at the end of the first quarter.
In February, Berkshire disclosed three bets, including the Marsh McLennan stake, that it had been building up in secret. The company then spent the first quarter taking those bets in different directions, ramping up its stake in Marsh McLennan and Verizon Communications while cutting a Chevron holding roughly in half.
Buffett and two of his key deputies, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, oversee investments for the conglomerate’s $282 billion stock portfolio. The firm ended up increasing two other bets — a stake in Kroger and a holding in the furniture company RH — during the first quarter.
The court upheld the Federal Reserve Board's right to block Custodia from direct access to its payment systems. The bank is considering asking for a rehearing.
The Tacoma, Washington-based bank, which has completed two mergers since 2023, said Thursday that it will buy back up to $700 million of its own shares over the next year.
New York State's former top regulator Adrienne A. Harris has rejoined Sullivan & Cromwell as of counsel and senior policy advisor; Founders Bank appointed Karen Grau to its board of directors; Deutsche Bank's DWS Group is opening an office in Abu Dhabi; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
Earned wage access provider EarnIn, which historically has been known for direct-to-consumer EWA, is now integrating its services with payroll providers. The move comes as consumer advocate groups step up efforts for stricter regulation of the industry.
As the political dispute drags on, there are implications beyond government disbursements, potentially harming corporate cash positions and the larger economy, according to payment experts from Billtrust and research firms.
As the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency receives a spurt of applications for national trust charters from crypto and payments firms, bank trade groups are urging regulators to ensure proposed activities fit within the statutory limits of the charter and the law.
